Full text of "The Bible in the Syriac Tradition"

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Section

The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Introductory note; This Course is arranged in eight sections

coverintr the following topics:

Page

I 1) How docs the Bible reach us? 5
2) Biblical translation — some general problems 3
3} A bird's eye view of the Syriac Bible

II The Syriac Bible — a closer look:

1) Old Testament

1. IVom Hebrew: Peshitta

2. from Greek: Syro-Hexapla

2) New Testament (From Greek)

1. Diatessaron( Harmony of the Gospels)

2. Old Syriac

3. Peshitta

4. Philo.xcnian

5. Harclean

III How does the Syriac Bible reach us?

1. Biblical manuscripts

2. Lectionarics

3. Printed editions

4. Translations based on tbc Syriac Bible

IV Biblical interpretation in the Syriac Tradition 54

V Biblical commentaries 62

VI The use of the Syriac Bible in preaching 68

Section VII The use of the Syriac Bible in the liturgy 77

Section VIII The Peshitta as a basis for Syriac spirituality 82

Section

Section
Section
Section

Questions

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Dear SCC Participant,

Slom !

Welcome to participate in the SEERI Correspondence
Course (SCC) which now offers a series of courses in Synac Christ-
ian heritage and in the Syriac language. The Syriac Christian tra-
dition is an important stream or Christian tradition distinct from
the Western (Latin) and the' Eastern Byzantine' traditions. Among
the Oriental Christian Churches those within the Syriac liturgi-
cal tradition, may be said to hold pride of place, since they are
representative of, and to some degree, direct heirs to the Semitic
• world out of which .Christianity sprang. The Semitic world was
the cradle of Christianity. The people among whom it was born
and first spread and developed set the mark of their own genius
on its first forms of expression and naturally enough they have
continued to be the most fit to think and live it in accordance
with what it was from the beginning. The West has lost at least
something of the more humanly and religiously ample character
i of early Christian revelation and an expression of its own original
flavour which have been better conserved in the Semitic Christian
' East The Bible itself is built on the Semitic tradition. There-
fore an understanding of the Bible in the Syriac tradition is con-
ductive to a better understanding of the original Christian re-
velation and Christian life. So we begin our Correspondence
Course with a course on 'The Bible in the Syriac Tradition . We
believe that we cannot get a more suitable person to guide this
course than the Oxford Professor of Semitic studies Dr. Sebastian
P. Brock.

About the Author:

Sebastian P. Brock was born in London, U. K.. in 1938.
After his education in Cambridge and Oxford, he taught m the
Department of Theology at the University of Birnungam and
later in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the Umvers.ty ofCam-

bridge. Since 1974 he is professor at the Orieintal Institute of
the University of Oxford. He has written extensively in learned
journals on Syriac subjects and has published several articles and
books. Among his works are:

— The Harp of the Spirit: Poems of St. Ephrem (1975, 1983).

— The Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Nonnos Mythological Scho-

lia (Cambridge, 1976)

— The Holy Spirit in the Syrian Baptismal Tradition

(Syrian Churches Series 9) (Poona 1979).

— The Luminous Eye (Rome 1985).

— The Syrian Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life (Cisteisian

Studies Series 101) Michigan 1987.

— The Teaching of the Syrian Fathers on Prayer (Syriac Text)

(Bar Hebracus Vcrlag, Holland 1987).

\Yc hope that the SCC will lead you to the thrill of a great tra-
dition of learning and spirituality.

Rev. Dr. GEEVARGHESE PANICKER
Director of SCC

SECTION I

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1. How does the Bible reach us?

.i .

When we read the Bible today we norm illy read ii ina
'.rnodern printed edition and in a modern translation, whether it
■be' in English, or Malayalam, or some other language. It is worth
-reflecting how these printed editions and translations came into
being: what lies behind them, and how do they influence our
understanding of what the 'Bible' contains and says?

Printed Bibles only go back to the sixteenth century. Pre-
vious to that Bibles had to be copied by hand, a laborious and
slow process. The invention of printing had two important con-
sequences for the Bible: in the first place, printing has made it
possible for Bibles to be circulated much more widely and much
more cheaply; and secondly, printing has helped to standardize
the arrangement and contents of the Bible. We shall be looking
at, Some of the. consequences of this revolutionary invention below.

The manuscript Bible was rarely a complete Bible, for nor-
jnally a biblical manuscript would only contain part of the Bible,
such as the Gospels, or may be the whole New Testament. Each
'book would be devided into chapters, but several different sy-
stems of chapter divisions were current; thus, for example, the
. chapter division in Syriac and in Greek manuscripts differs from
'"that in our printed Bibles. The chapter division familiar to us
today in printed Bibles in fact belongs to the Latin translation
•by Jerome, known as the Vulgate; though the system was only
■devised in the Middle Ages, it was adopted in the printed text
of the Bible in all languages in the sixteenth century, and so
this particular system has now become universal. Manuscript
Bibles in languages other than Hebrew also lacked any form of
"verse division: our present verse divisions in the Old Testament
'derive from the Hebrew Bible, and these were introduced into
•printed Bibles in all languages in the course of the sixteenth cen-
tury. In the New Testament the verse divisions and numberings
were First introduced in some of the first printed editions of the
Greek text.

! I

6 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Manuscript Bibles in all languages except Hebrew were in
book, or 'codex', form. For purposes of study the Jews would
also write out the Hebrew Bible in codex form, but for liturgical
use in Synagogue they always wrote out the text on scrolls .(a
practice which still exists). The scroll is in fact a much older in-
vention than the codex. The codex only came to be widely used
for literary texts in the early centuries of the Christian era, and
it seems that Christians helped popularize the new format by first
employing it'for writing out biblical texts in Creek. The codex
has many advantages over the scroll: in particular, the codex
is much easier to use, and it can hold very much more text than
a scroll.

Before the invention of the codex people had . invariably
used the scroll; thus, for example, the biblical manuscripts in
Hebrew found at Qumran. on the Dead" Sea, arc all in scroll form
(they date from about the second century BC to the first century
A D). This means that the original authors of "the various biblical
books will have first written their books down on scrolls, rather
than in book form, in codices. This almost certainly applies to the
authors of the New Testament books as well as to those of the Old
Testament.

The biblical manuscripts from Qumran, which come from •

a collection of texts often known as the "Dead Sea Scrolls", are

the oldest surviving biblical manuscripts in Hebrew. Most of

them are very fragmentary, and the earliest complete biblical

manuscripts in Hebrew date from very much later, from the

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tenth century.

■,.... The books of the Hebrew Bible (the .Christian Old Testa-
ment) were translated by Jews into Greek in the third and second
centuries BC. This collection of translations came to be known
as the.Scptuagint (Seventy) since an early tradition claimed that
the Pentateuch had been translated into Greek at Alexandria by
scventv translators from Palestine. The Greek-speaking part or
the early Church took over this translation from the Jews, and
in due course the Jews themselves abandoned it. A few small
fragments of the Scptuagint from the second and first centuries
BC survive, but the earliest complete manuscripts are Christian
ones of the fourth and fifth centuries and later.

How does the Bible reach us 7

Jews also translated the Hebrew Bible into ! Aramaic, and
these translations are known today as the Targums. Fragments
of a pre-Christian Targum to Job have been found at Qumran,
but the other Targums which survive probably originated in the
early centuries of the Christian era, and the manuscripts contain-
ing them arc "almost all late medieval (twelfth to sixteenth cen-

. tury). Jews may also have translated some books of the Bible
into an Aramaic dialect resembling Syriac (Syriac originated as
the local Aramaic dialect of Edessa), and these were then taken

.aver by the • early Syriac-spcaking Christian -community to
form the beginnings of the Pcshitta Old Testament. The earliest
complete manuscript of the Syriac Old Testament belongs to the
sixth or seventh century.

Modern translations of the Bible are made from particular
editions of the Hebrew Old Testament and .Greek New Testa-
ment. Surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible have a re-
markably uniform text, and so there is very little difference bet-
ween one edition of the Hebrew Bible and another; it is likely the
that precise form of the Hebrew Itext as we know it goes back to
an authoritative edition produced about the end of the first cen-
tury A D. Before that date there was evidently a certain amount
of variation between different manuscripts.

In contrast to the Hebrew Bible, manuscripts of the Greek
Old Tesi" ment (Septuagint) and the Greek New Testament may
; differ ;fro»ri one another considerably in details 'of wording, and
■ •so modern editors have used the earliest available manuscripts
in order to provide their readers with a text as close as possible
to the text written down by the original authors. This is by no
means a simple task, and as a result different editions of the
Greek New Testament will often have slightly different texts.
In most cases these modern editions will differ in many small ways
from sixteenth-century editions, whose editors mostly relied on
rather late manuscripts. These differences arc reflected in the
various English translations: one can easily discover this by com-
paring a passage in the King James version, made in the seven-
teenth century, with any twentieth century English translation.

As wc shall see, manuscripts of the standard Syriac Bible
iire remarkably uniform in character; in this respect they are com-
parable to Hebrew biblical manuscripts, and unlike Greek ones.

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8 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Biblical Translation 9

2. Biblical translation, some general problems

Fashions in biblical transition change over the course of
time. Twentieth-century biblical translators approach their task
very differently from the way in which the ancient translators-
went about their work. The aims and the self-understanding of
ancient and of modern biblical translators were radically differ-
ent. One can generalize and say that the ancient translator was
oriented towards the original text, while the modern translator is
oriented towards the reader. As a result of this different orient-
al ion the ancient translator translates with great deference to-
wards the original text, striving to render it 'word for word',
even if this may sometimes result in 'nonsense translations'; in
contrast, the modern translator seeks to render the text Intelli-
gible to his reader and as a consequence he translates 'sense for
sense', rather than 'word Tor word 1 ; and he will avoid at all costs
any nonsense translations. Ancient translations will thus tend to
he more literal, and modern ones more free and interpretative.
Within each type of translation, the more literal and the more
lice, there is in fact the possibility of threat variety, as we shall see
later on. in connection with the Syriac Bible.

Virtually all early biblical translations, into whatever lan-
guage, are basically text-oriented, rather than reader-oriented.
When did biblical translation change its practice and become
reader-oriented? Right up to the end of the European Middle Ages
word for word translation remained the norm for biblical transla-
tion, and it was only in the sixteenth century that practice chang-
ed. There arc good reasons for linking this important shift with
the invention of printing.

Before the invention of printing the main context in which
the Bible was read was dining church services, but after the inven-
tion of printing it became much more available to be read by
individuals at home. Since many passages in the Bible are ex-
tremely obscure, this new situation gave rise to problems for the
Church, all the more so since it coincided in time with the move-
ment for reform in Europe. As long as (he reading of the Bible
was largely confined to the context of the liturgy, the Church was
able to exercise its authority in matters of scriptural interpretation
Hnce biblical readings could be accompanied by homih-lic expla-

nation. Once however- the Bible had become readily' available
outside the liturgy there was no longer any means of control
over how the Bible was to be interpreted, and in the course of
the Reformation period in Europe all sorts of extravagant inter-
pretation began to circulate. There were two main reactions to
this abuse of the Bible at the time: the Roman Catholic Church
tried to minimize the use of the Bible outside the context of
church services, thus reducing the danger of misguided interpre-
tation of the Bible by individuals. The Reformation Churches,
on the other hand, dealt with the problem in quite a different
way, by adopting a completely new attitude towards biblical
translation itself: from the time of St. Jerome (late fourth century)
to the cud of the European Middle Ages (fifteenth century) the
ideal aimed at by all biblical translators had been (as we have
seen) a 'word for word', rather than 'sense for sense', rendering;
this meant that, if the original text was obscure, the translator was
content to pass the obscurity on to the reader, leaving the matter
of exposition to the preacher. At the Reformation the role of
translator came to be joined, to some extent, to that of the prea-
cher or expositor, and so the entire aim of the biblical translation
changed: no longer did the biblical translator defer to the original
text, rendering it 'word for word'; instead, he saw his task as
conveying to, the reader his own understanding of what the biblical
text meant. Accordingly, in the process of translating the Bible
into the various European spoken languages of the time, the Re-
formers felt the need to be much more interpretative in their
work of translation than earlier translators had been.

Virtually all modern biblical translation's have inherited
this changed attitude towards the task of the biblical translator,
although modern translations are interpretative in very different
ways from sixteenth-century European translations.

St, Jerome, who produced the revised Latin translation
known as the Vulgate, was the first person to formulate the view
that it was appropriate to translate the sacred text of the Bible
'word for word', rather than 'sense for sense'. We can, however.
see from the history of the early biblical translations that this
ideal had already been put into practice long before his time.
In the case of most ancient translations of the Bible we can ob-
serve the same course of events: the earliest translations into a

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10 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

particular language are rather inconsistent in character, since the
translators lacked experience and precedent; before long, however,
people noticed that there were differences between the original
and the translation, and so they started to revise the original tran-
slation, bringing it closer into agreement with the original. This'
process of revision might be repeated, or go on over a period of
time. In every case we end up with an extremely literal rendering
of the original text. This movement towards a more and more
literal style of translation can be particularly well documented
from the history of both the Greek and the Syriac Bible, for in
both cases we have somewhat inconsistent styles of translation at
the earliest stages, followed by a scries of revisions aimed to bring
the translations ever closafinto line with the underlying text of
the original. The end results of tliis process of revision were highly
sophisticated mirror translations.

But even the translator who sets chit to provide such a
minor rendering cannot avoid being interpretative in places:
quite frequently (and especially in the Hebrew Old Testament)
the original text is ambiguous or obscure, and so the translator is
forced to make a choice between two or more possibilities. At
creation (Gen. 1:2) is it 'the Spirit of God' or a 'mighty wind'
over the primordial deep? Both 1 ancient and modern translators
are divided over this and many other sucii ambiguities. Indeed,'
sometimes the very choice of a literal rendering might be con-
sidered interpretative: a good example is provided by the first
word of the angel Gabriel's greeting to Mary in Luke 1:28: in Eng-
lish the familiar rendering of the Greek "chaire" is 'hail (Mary)'.
The standard Syriac biblical text of the New Testament has "shlam
lek" 'Greetings to you', the equivalent Syriac form of the Greek
greeting (similarly, the New English Bible has 'Greetings'). The
very literal seventh-century Syriac version known as the Harclean
prefers to give instead the etymological equivalent to the Greek,
namely the imperative 'rejoice'. Should the translator pay more
attention to the form ('rejoice') or to the content ('greetings')?
Ancient translators like the author of the Harclean New Testa-
ment thought that the form was more important, while modern
translators consider that the content has the greater importance.

We have seen how the invention of printing altered people's
altitudes towards the nature of biblical translation. Printing has

Biblical Translation I I

also had an important effect on the contents of the Bible; this is
because printing makes possible the wide circulation of a single
edition or translation, resulting in a kind of standardization that
was not possible before the invention of printing. We have al-
ready seen one such censequence, namely the introduction of a
standardized system of chapter and verse numbering. Other
kinds of standardization introduced by printing can be seen by
comparing the contents and order of books in different modern
translations. Bibles produced for the Catholic church will differ
from those produced for the various Reformed Churches: the
former will contain the deutcro-canonical books, while the latter
will normally not; and the order of certain old Testament books
will be different. Orthodox Bibles will again differ from both
Catholic and Reformed Bibles. Here we can sec that the invention
of printing has standardized the differences between the various
Church traditions.

We need to consider one more problem which needs to be
faced by the modern biblical translation, since this also has a
bearing on our attitude towards the Syriac Bible. What biblical
text should the translator treat as authoritative and translate
from? At first sight this seems an easy question to answer: the
Hebrew text for the Old Testament and the Greek text for the
New Testament. As we shall see, however, this is by no means
the only answer. Certainly most modern translations set out to
translate from the Hebrew and the Greek, but even here
problems arise: the edition of the Hebrew Bible used is in fact a
medieval Jewish one where the originally consonantal text
has been provided with vowels; it is true that the consonantal
text goes back more or less in its present form to the late first
century AD, bat in many cases (especially in ^ poetic books) this
consonantal text could be read with different vowels, provid-
ing a somewhat different meaning. Modern translators nor-
mally follow the medieval Jewish tradition of understanding
the text, but it would also be possible to take the consonantal
..text as the starting point, without necessarily following the par-
ticular interpretation of reading the vowels' which the medieval
tradition provides. It would also theoretically be possible to take
as a starting point an earlier form of the Hebrew text, such as
that presupposed by the Scptuagint (which in some books must

12 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

have differed considerably from the Hebrew text we know).
Again, someone might reasonably expect a translator to try to go
back to the exact from or the Hebrew text as first written down
by tlie individual authors of the old Testament books. This,,
however, is an impossible task, for we have no means of getting
behind the variety of different forms of the Hebrew text which we
now know to have been circulating in the first few centuries BC.

In response to this slate of affairs, we need to make use
of the distinction between 'literary authenticity' and scriptural
authenticity*. Literary authenticity refers to the exact wording of
the original author (which, in the case of the Hebrew Old Testa-
ment is unattainable), whereas scriptural authenticity refers to a
form of the biblical text which has been held by the religious com-
munity as authoritative. This distinction has important conseque-
nces: literary authenticity can only apply to a single form of text,
but scriptural authenticity can apply simultaneously to several
different forms of text. Thus, as far as the Hebrew bible is con-
cerned, it could be said that scriptural authenticity applies, not
only to the medieval Jewish edition of the Hebrew, but also to
its consonantal basis which goes back to the late first century,
and to the Hebrew text used by the Jewish translators of the Old
Testament into Greek. But scriptural authenticity is by no means
confined to the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Test-
ament: it applies just as much to the ancient versions, the Greek
Septuagint and the Syriac Pcshitta, since both these translations
have been regarded as authoritative biblical texts by the commu-
nities using them.

Once we realize that scriptural authenticity is not necessarily
confined to the original biblical languages, it then becomes clear
that modern biblical translations should not exclusively be made
from Hebrew and Greek: for the Greek and Russian Orthodox
Church it would be just as desirable (especially for liturgical use)
to use translations from the Septuagint; likewise, in the case of
the Churches of Syriac liturgical tradition, it will be important to
make available translations from the Syriac Peshitta. These tra-
nslations would primarily be for use in the liturgy (as we shall
see, the Syriac liturgical tradition is rooted in the Syriac Bible);
but for other purposes too, they could be profitably used along-
side the existing translations from Hebrew and Greek, thus pro-
viding an additional source for spiritual insight.

A Bird's Eye View... 13

3. A Birds Eye View of the Syriac Bible

' For all the Churches of Syriac tradition the authoritative form
of the Bible is the Syriac translation known as the Pcshitta. The
Pcshitta Old Testament was translated directly from the original
Hebrew text, and the Peshitta New Testament directly from the
original Greek; the so-c illcd deutero-canonical books or 'Apocry-
pha' were all translated from Greek, with the exception of Bar
Sira (Ecclesiasticus), which was translated from Hebrew.

The date of the Peshitta Old Testament is uncertain, and in
any case not all books will have been translated at once, or by the
same persons. Some books may have been inherited by the young
Syriac Church from translations made by Jewish communities in
the region of Edessa and Nisibis. It seems likely that most books
;.of the Pcshitta Old Testament were translated during the period
from the late first century A D to the early third , century A D.

The Pcshitta New Testament is in fact a revision of an earlier

.. translation, known as the 'Old Syriac'. The revision may have

been made over a period of time, but was completed sometime in

the early fifth century. The circulation of this revision proved

extremely effective, for the Pcshitta rapidly replaced the Old

Syriac and had become the authoritative Syriac text of the New

Testament before the schism between the Syrian Orthodox Church

;and the Church of the East, brought about by the christological

I controversies of the mid fifth century,

A large number of manuscripts of the Peshitta survive, and

'the oldest of these date from the fifth and sixth centuries. Since

. an entire Bible written out by hand was very bulky and awkward

to manage, most manuscripts only contain small groups of books

at a time and complete Bibles are very rare.

The rarity of complete Bibles before the coming of the printed
book has had an important consequence: the precise contents and
. order of books in the Syriac Bible has never become entirely fixed
(even in modern printed editions the order in which the biblical
books arc printed may differ considerably from one edition to
another). As far as contents are concerned, the most important
feature of the Syriac Bible is the absence from the original
Peshitta, translation of the New Testament of some of the Catholic
Epistles (2 Peter, 2-3 John,Jude) and the Revelation of St. John.

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14 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

(Apocalypse); in most printed editions of the Syriac New Testa-
ment, however, the Syriac text of these books has been supplied
from later Syriac translations.

Although the Peshitta is the standard biblical text, it is not
the only Syriac translation of the Bible,

For the Old Testament, there is a translation made from
the Greek SSptuagint, This version is known in Syriac as 'the
Seventy' ("Shab'in"), but is Called the 'Syro-liexapla' by modern
scholars: it was made by the Syrian Orthodox scholar Paul of
Telia over the years '614— 616 in Alexandria (Egypt), Although
the translation was probably never iutented for liturgical use, its
text is nevertheless sometimes to be found in Syrian.. Orthodox
lectionaries. The Syro-hcxapla survives in a number of manu-
scripts, but unfortunately wc do not have the complete text (parts-
of the Pentateuch and Historical Books are missing).

The Syrian Orthodox scholar Jacob of Edcs-sa (died 708)
made a revised 'Syriac translation of certain books of the Old
Testament, basing his work on both the Greek Septuagiut and the
Peshitta. Parts of his work survives in a small number of Very old

manuscripts.

• i

A few other relics of translations of individual Old Testa-
ment Jjooks from Greek into Syriac also survive; these may have
l>cen commissioned Iry the Syrian Orthodox theologian Philoxenus-
of Mabbug (died 523).

For the New Testament wc know of a numlrcr of other
Syriac versions, besides the Peshitta;

The oldest Syriac translation of the Gospels was- almost
certainly in the form of a harmony of the four Gospels-, known as-
the Diatessaron. a Greek work meaning 'through four', that is, a
single Gospel text derived from the four Gospels. Only very small
fragments of this- survive, and much uncertainty surrounds its-
authorship and origin. The Diatessaron is usually thought to
have been composed by Tatian, a native of the Mesopotamia who
studied in Rome under Justin Martyr in the middle of the second
century A D. and then returned to hishomcland. It is- not known;

A Bird's Eye View... |5

for certain whether he composed his Gospel harmony in Greek or
in Syriac. In the early Syriac Church, before the birth of the
Peshitta New Testament, the Diatessaron was evidently consid-
ered as an authoritative Gospel text, for St. Ephrcm wrote a com-
mentary on it in the fourth century. Once the Peshitta New Test-
ament had come into existence (early in the fifth century) the
.Diatessaron fell out of favour, and as a result no complete manu-
scripts of it survive.

Next in time after the Diatessaron com' '.be translation
known as the 'O.lcLSyriac', of which only the Four gospels survive
(preserved in two very early manuscripts). The date when this
translation was made remains uncertain: some scholars suggest
the Tate second or early third century, while others prefer the
early fourth century. In any case the Old Syriac seems to be later
than the Diatessaron, and in many places it has been influenced
,by the Diatessaron. It is likely that the Old Syriac originally
extended to the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles,' but no
manuscripts containing the Old Syriac version of these books
survives. ■

Wc have already seen that the Peshitta New Testament is
in fact not a completely new translation from Greek, but a revi-
sion of the Old Syriac, correcting it against the Greek text. Over
the' poriod from the fifth to the seventh century Greek language
and culture became more and more prestigious in the eyes of
Syriac biblical scholars, especially in the Syrian Orthodox
Church; as a result, two further revisions of the Syriac New Test-
ament were made, trying to bring it closer into line with the
Greek original.

We know that the chorepiscopus Polycarp completed a revi-

' sion of the Peshitta New Testament in 508. This work had been

commissioned by the Syrian Orthodox theologian Philoxcnus,

metropolitan of mabbug, and so is normally called the 'Philoxe-

nian 1 New Testament. The Pliiloxenian version is unfortunately

lost: it was evidently never circulated widely and no manuscripts

of it survive; it is possible, however, that the extant sixth-century

translations of the Minor Catholic Epistles and Revelation may

belong to this revision, in which case we do have the Pliiloxenian

■ version for a few books, at least.

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16 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition f

This lost Philoxcniari revision served as the basis for yet a
further revision of the Syriac New Testament, completed in 61G
in Alexandria by the Syrian Orthodox scholar Thomas of Harkel,
This »evision, known as the 'Harclcan', provides a remarkable
minor translation, reflecting every detail of the Greek original.
The Harclcan was widely circulated in Syrian Orthodox circles
and was often used for Gospel lectimiaries. The Harclcan New
Testament survives complete, and includes the Minor Catholic
Epistles and Revelation.

In tabular form we have:

OLD TESTAMENT Hebrew — » Peshitta (c. 2nd cent. AD?)

Greek (Scptuagint)
NEW TESTAMENT Greek

Syro-hcxapla (GIG)

Diatessaron (2nd cent. AD)
(Gospel Harmony)

Old Syriac (c. 3rd cent.)

Peshitta (t. 400)
Philoxenian (508)
Harklean (616).

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•

;•'-;:• ■ section ii

THE SYRIAC BIBLE - A CLOSER LOOK

1. Old Testament

.(1) TRANSLATED FROM HEBREW:

"PESHITTA"

. . The name 'Peshitta' means 'straightforward, simp^ !; it
Was given to the standard Syriac version of the Bible (both Old
and New Testaments) in order to distinguish them from the se-
venth-century translations, the Syro-hcxapla and the Harclcan.
The name is first, encountered in a ninth-century writer; earlier
authors had simply referred to the Peshitta as 'the Syriac'.

The origins of the Peshitta translation are very obscure and
i£yriac authors had no clear memory of how and when the work
was carried out (a few implausible guesses were nevertheless cir-
culated). A close study of the translation itself can throw a little
light: from such a study we can deduce the following:

— the Peshitta Old Testament is not the work of a single
, translator, but must have been carried out by many different

translators, perhaps working over a considerable period of time.

■ '.■■. >

: — the translators all worked basically from the Hebrew
text, and this Hebrew text was basically the same as "the conson-
antal Hebrew text of our printed Hebrew Bibles. Since we know
t|iat this consonantal text became ■ the authoritative Hebrew text
some time, in- the late first century AD, it is likely that, the transl-
ators were working after it had been widely, propagated.

■■■■'■'■ A • ;•'! ■ ■ : - ■ ■• .4/ , •, ':'• v f ■ ... , j] .

tnl >j — in some books the translators seem to have consulted or
made use of other translations: thus at various places in the
Pentateuch (Genesis Deuteronomy) there are some remarkable I
links between the Peshitta and the Jewish Aramaic Targums; and
some of the ' Prophets and Wisdom books the translators pro- )
bably consulted the Septuagint on occasion, in order to seek help
over a difficult passage in the Hebrew. The links with the Tar-
gums in certain books leads us to suppose that at least for these

M
xl

• J

18 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

books the translator^) were probably Jewish, rather than Chris.
lian. In other hooks, however, the evidence perhaps points to
Christian translators, though it is likely that such people were of
Jewish oigin, for a knowledge of Hebrew would otherwise be
difficult to explain. ,

For the student of Bible translations it is of particular in-
terest to look at the distinctive features of a translation. Here
we shall concentrate on some unusual interpretative renderings
to be found in different books of the Peshitta Old Testament;
many of these have their roots in Jewish exegclical tradition.

It was pointed out in Section 1 that even the translator
who sets out to provide a literal translation cannot avoid choosing
between two or more possible interpretations in cases where the
Hebrew original is ambiguous or obscure. The Hebrew text of
God's words to Cain in Gen. 4:7, "If you do well, will you not
be accepted" (Revised Siandard Version), is capable of several
possible interpretations, owing to the ambiguity of the word "s't"-
("will you not be accepted?" in the RSV). "s't" derives from the
verb "nasa" which can have at least four different senses, all
possible in the context:

(1) 'raise up', in the sense of 'offer'. This is how the,
Greek Scptuagint takes it ("If you offer well ..").

(2) 'lift up', in the sense of 'accept'. The Syriac translator
opts for this understanding, and he gives emphasis to it by chang-
ing the tense: lie translates using a past tense, "qabblet" literally j
" I have received / accepted ", but in the context this will
either have the nuance "I will certainly accept" (that is, if
you ( = Cain) act well in future), or "I' would have accepted"
(that is, if yon had acted well on the first occasion). Two Jewish
Greek revisers of the Greek Bible have a similar understanding

of the word.

■ " ' :"■;<■■■'(:',,.■

(3) 'lift up' in the sense of 'forgive'. This is how the Jewish

Targuins understood the passage ("you will be forgiven").' " ■«'

■ ' ■ ;■'..;

(4) 'lift up' in the sense of 'suspend'. This understanding
of the word was chosen by the author of the Samaritan Targum

Old Testament 19

(ft will SUspcnd"). It is interesting to find that most modern
translators base their renderings on the second interpretation, thus
following in the footsteps of the Peshitta.

In the next verse (4:8) the Hebrew has evidently lost some
Words, for it reads "And Cain said to his brother (...).r--And
When they were in the Held Cain rose up against his brother bel
and killed him". All the ancient versions, including the Peshitta
supply some appropriate Words, usually "Let us go out into the
field". But the Peshitta translator docs something else as well:
instead of translating the Hebrew word "field" literally, he rend-
ers' it by "valley" ("pqa'ta"). What is the reason for this see-
mingly wilful alteration? A clue to the answer is to be found in
Ezckiel 28:12— 14, where Paradise- is- described- as a mountain.
There is no hint of this in the~Hcbrcw text of Genesis, but Jewish
and Christian readers regularly understood the topography of
Genesis 1 -4 in the light of Ezckiel (the idea was also popularized
in the non-canonical book known as Enoch): Paradise was under-
stood as a mountain, and when Adam and Eve were driven out
of Paradise they took up residence on the foothills, at the moun-
tain's base. Abel and Cain made their sacrifice on one of these
foothills, but when Cain took abel off with the intention of kill-
ing him', he took him down on to lower ground, in other words,
the "valley" which the Peshitta translator has actuilly intro-
duced into the biblical text here. Early commentaries on the
passage often understand the topography in this way, but the
Peshitta is the only biblical translation which incorporates this
understanding into the Bible itself.

■ According to the : Hebrew text or .Genesis 8:5 Noah's Ark

landed on mount Ararat (in Armenia, modem north east, Turkey)

and- 'Ararat', Willi be found in, all modern, .translations. In the

'■.Peshitta, however, the Ark rests on 'the mountains of Qardu',

.'that is to say, considerably further south, in Kurdistan (modern

priorth. west Iraq.) This was not, or course, a wilful rendering on

Ifth'c partof.the translator: here, as. in many other places, he is

£ simply following Jewish tradition which was current in his. day.

» 'Ararat 1 of the Hebrew text was identified as Qardu- both by

I Josephus. writing in Greek in the later first century AD, and by

?thc Jewish Aramaic translations "of the Bible, known as thx

i i

■

,;i

..'

20 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Targums. Thanks to this identification in the Peshitta, mount
Qardu has been a place for local pilgrimage even into modern
times. '

Genesis 22, on Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, is a chapter
to which wc shall return later, in section 4, The Peshitta transla-
tion of the chapter already has a number of distinctive features.
The two most promjnet ones are in verses 2 and 12. Verse two
provides the location where the sacrifice is to take place: the
Hebrew text has 'the land of Moriah'.- which allowed later tradi-
tion to identify the place as the site of the Temple, since the only
other occurrence of Moriah in the Hebrew Bible is at 2 Chronic-
les 3:1, which tells how 'Solomon began to build, the House of
the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had
appeared to David his father'. Modern translations follow the
Hebrew text in speaking of Mori ah in both passages, but the
ancient translators knew of some quite different traditions: the
Greek Scptuagint has 'high land' in Genesis and 'mountain of
the Amoritc' in Chronicles, while the Syriac Peshitta has 'land of
the Amorites' in Genesis, and 'mountain of the Amorites' in
Chronicles. The Latin translation known as the Vulgate knows
yet another exegetical tradition, and in Genesis it has 'land of
vision', an etymological rendering of Moriah, linking it with the
Hebrew verb "ra'ah," 'to sec'; Jerome derived this rendering
from the earlier Jewish Greek revision of the Hebrew Bible by
Symmachus. ~ r

The second distinctive feature of Genesis 22 in the Peshitta
occurs in verse 12, where in the Hebrew (followed by the Septu-
agint and by all modern translations) the angel says 'for now I
know that you fear God'. By contrast the Peshitta reads 'for now
I have made known that you fear God' (the text was often later
read as 'for now you have made known that you fear God'/ since
the consonantal text "wd't" can be read either as "awd'ct",
T itave made known', or as "awda't", 'you have made known").
This might not seem a very important difference, but in fact it
implies a very different setting for this trial of Abraham: God
allows the trial to take place, not to find out himself whether
Abraham's love for God and his faith were stronger than his love
for Isaac his son; rather, God allows it to take place because some
of the angels doubt whether Abraham is worthy of the special

* Old Testament 21

title given him of 'Friend of God'. The setting for the trial of
■ Abraham is thus understood as being very similar to the setting
for the trial of trials of Job, which were initiated because Satan,
the ,'Adversary', likewise doubted the strength of Job's faith.'
.This understanding of the background to Genesis 22 is explicitly
found in early Jewish exegetical tradition; the Peshitta, however
is the only ancient translation to have introduced a hint of thi'
interpretation into the actual biblical text.

The Peshitta translation of Genesis, and indeed of the Pen-
; tateuch as a whole, is particularly rich in links with contemporary
Jewish exegetical tradition, and this makes it likely that these
books were translated by Jews rather than by Christians.

Another place where the Peshitta translation has a great
many distinctive renderings, often Jewish in character, is the two
books of Chronicles. Here, for example, a number of the place
. names have been 'updated' and identified with places in north
• Mesopotamia which will have been more familiar to Syriac read-
ers; thus, for example, Aram Ma'acah^ (1 QhnSkG ) fcjdcntified - ^
■. as Harran, and_Carcemish ._ ( 2-Chr~35:20 )--withJ^abbug. Quite
often the Syriac translator uses phraseology which is" typical of the
. . Jewish Targums (though there are very few links with the surviv-
ing Targum to Chronicles, which is probably later in date than
.. the Pcshjtta). Thus were, the Hebrew has 'In that night God
appeared to Solomon (and said to him, Ask what ■ I shall give
£ you)', the Syriac has 'In that night the Lord was revealed over
| Solomon'. The wording 'was. revealed over' is characteristic of
I the Jewish Palestinian Targum tradition (and is occasionally also
I found in the Peshitta Pentateuch), in contrast to the Babylonian
.Targum s regular use of 'was revealed to'. Another case' where
s the Peshma employs wording which is distinctively Jewish in
character is to be found in passages like 2 Chr 33:7, where God
Kpeaks or his presence in the Temple; in that particular passage
gthe Hebrew has 'm this House and in Jerusalem... I will put my
name for ever' hut in the Syriac the last phrase appears as 'I
-Jill cause my Shekhina (the divine presence) to reside for ever'
|Such phraseology ,s chracteristic of the Jewish Targums, and is
jMtto be found ,„ any of the other ancient translations of the

:
;

-
■ »

22 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

One other book in the Peshitta has close links with the
Targum, iuimcly_prov.eiibs~-.Herc the situation is unique, for the
Peshilta and the Targum are virtually word for word the same
much of the time, and one must definitely derive from the other.
One would expect the Peshitta to be derived from the Targum, 2
but on linguistic grounds it can be shown that in fact the Targum ;
must dem'e in this book from the Peshitta. This means that the
Peshitta translation of '.Proverbs ; is also likely to have been the
work of Jews in north Mesopotamia: it subsequently came to be
taken over by Syriac-spenking Christians and by later Jews (who
lightly modified the dialect).

In other books of the Peshitta Old Testament the links
with the Targums are much more tenuous, or altogether absent.
In these other books the translators have introducd much fewer
'interpretative elements, and their rendering is usually rather close
to the Hebrew, though in some books they occasionally make
use of the Septuagint in isolated passages.

..■'..

(2) TRANSLATED FROM GREEK:
"SYRO-HEXAPLA"

■<_

Over the course of' the fifth to Seventh centuries AD Chri-
stian literature in Greek came to have great prestige in the eyes of
the Syriac Churches. This was due to a number of different,
reasons, but the- most important of these was the fact that Greek.
was the main cultural language of the eastern Roman Empire and
so the theological controversies of the fifth and following centu-
ries were conducted primarily in Greek. Since Syriac readers
were anxious to be brought up to dale in theological developments
huge numbers of theological works were translated from Greek
into Syriac, and by the end of the Seventh centiiry almost all the
Grcck Fathers had been translated into Syriac, either in whole or^
in part. As time went on, translators tried to represent the Greek,
more and more exactly in Syriac and by the Seventh century.,
they had developed very sophisticated methods of 'mirror-trans-
lation', aimed at reflecting all the details of the Greek original in ,,
the Syriac translation.

Old Testament 23 •

It „ against this general background ^— ™

that wc should look .^^^SSS and the Har,
lations,. the Syro-hcxapla foi the
clean for the New.

•i ..♦.,.- iwn-lc of Paul, bishop of
The.Syro-hexapla was !«"«£££* •*■ ^iaJS at
Telja, a scholar working at ^SZ£ hc grC at city of
l^Ennaton (or ninth ^to-e^us^ou^ ^ ^ ^

Alexandria in Egypt- , rl - r - 7 an d these dates explain

arduous task over the period 61, b£ ^^ ^

why he was not looking alter . , R Empire and

*oLte): t i»M*^^^^^,^*& the holy
sjped not only norg^» g# *J completed, his work

city of Jerusalem. Only shortly ■ h his translation

they also took Alexandria and it m Wg*£ and it is worlh

Syrian Orthodox Pf^^JffTSnl w< Xd from Origen's
ordinal text of the Septuagint, P*u wo ^

revision of the Septuagint, bnjg"^ earl third

Hebrew original. Origen's revision, unde ukc • , ^ J ^ ..

century, was i™<^^.™£* ™ nich .probably contained:-
Known as the Hexapla V*^££J and then in Greek
the Hebrew text, first in B^^ (Aqui la and Bymm-
transcription; two Jewish Greek tia . . ^another

achua) ■; Origen's own ^'"^dotiol ^ful 'translated the
Jewish Greek translation, ^ ,T ^^™L_t Bt «,i but in the '
Si column, -^^tlTSorntSCS-the other-

—*« «--f-*TT^*T3 translation, is known'
columns; it is for this reaso th ^ themselvcs re f cr to tf
today as the Syro-hexapla (Sy » - bised QIl the

under another name, the Sc vemy cW$d

Septuagint. Paul', ^f^£ mo dern scholars, -seeing
and this has proved mos uselui fragm ents

that Origen's Hexapla has beer _lo tap t from ^^^
(As we shall see below, in Section 3, 1 am
not survive complete).

■

24 The Sible in the Syriac Tradition

Tht Syro-hexapla enjoyed considerable popularity in the
Syrian Orthodox Church and sometimes its text, rather than the
PeshittaV was used in Old Testament Lectionaries. Although
Timothy I, the patriarch of the Church of the East, showed an
interest in having a manuscript of the Syro-hexapla copied at
the beginning of the eighth century, this version Was never used
in the Lectionaries of the Church of the Eist; it is, however,
quite often referred to in several of the commentaries of the ninth
century (see Section 5).

It js important to realize that the Syro-hexapla Was not
the only source of knowledge of the Scptuagint's biblical text
Tor Syriac readers. In the sixth century there were translations
of some individual books of the Old Testament made from Greek
(fragments of a version of Isaiah survive), and it is possible that
these were commissioned by Philoxcnus, bishop of Mabbug. Then
in his old age, in the early years of eighth century, the great -^
Syrian Orthodox scholar Jacob of Edcssa undertook another
translation from Greek, but also keeping some elements from
ihe Pcshitta, His work evidently covered several books of the
Old Testament, but only a few survive today (Pentateuch, 1-2
Samuel, 1 Kings, Isaiah, Exckiel and Daniel; some of these
only in fragmentary form).

There was one further important source of knowledge of
the Scptiuigint's biblical text: this was not in the form of an
actual biblical translation, but was available indirectly, in tran-
slation of the Greek Fathers into Syriac. These Greek writers
ofcourse quoted the Old Testament from the Scptuagint, and
when their works were translated into Syriac the practice of the
Syriac translators from about A D 500 onwards was to translate
the biblical quotations from the Septuagint exactly as they found
them (earlier they had often adapted the quotations to the
Peshitta text, since that was the biblical text which was familiar
to their readers). It was through these translations of Greek
patristic texts that many exegetical traditions based on the
Scptuagint, rather than on the Peshiua, reached the Syriac
Churches; we shall later on look at passage where the differences
between the Greek and the Syriac caused some intriguing pro-
blems which have left, their mark in some liturgical texts
(Section 7, on Gen 1:2)

New Testament 25

, New Testament

,.(l) DIATESSARON

j.. The harmony of the four Gospels known as the Diatcssaron
associated with Tatian, an important Syrian theologian who
rote in Greek just after the middle of the second century ., Tatian
had studied in Rome under Justin Martyr before returning to
the east (his exact home is unknown). It is uncertain when,
\vherc, and in what language, he composed the Diatessaron; the
original work is unfortunately lost, but traces of it can be found
in the Christian west as well as in the Christian east. As far as
the Syriac Churches arc concerned, it is certain that the Diatess-
aron circulated widely in Syriac and that it was regarded as an
authoritative form of the Gospel text until the early fifth century,
when it was suppressed in favour of the separate four Gospels.
In the fourth century St. Ephrcm even wrote a commentary on
the Diatessaron, and it is this work which is our most important

.witness to the actual text of the Diatcssaron,

• r '--. ■'

. ,-.

' At' the time when Tatian was compiling the Diatcssaron

the idea of a canonical set of four Gospels was only in its infancy,

jfThis' explains why he felt able 'to take certain liberties with the

text: 'even introducing here and there features which. 'are .riot to

found in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The" following are three examples of such features.' r

•i .'.!

In Matt. 4:4 and Mark 1:6 John the Baptist is said to

have lived' off 'locusts and wild honey'. Many later readers

ere surprised that an ascetic like John should have eaten a

on- vegetarian diet, with' locusts, and various interpretations

rei'put forward suggesting that ■ the Greek word in question

■incant some sort of plant. ' Tatian evidently took a more

dical course; removing the offending word used by Matthew

Mark altogether, and subsisting c milk of the mountains';

ohn"the Baptist, according to this new reading, lived off milk

and honey, in other words, the food of the Promised Land

jjCeuteronomy 6:3). The Old Testament association was ccr-

lainly intentional on Tatiari's'part, for the entry into the Pro-.

ised' Land was seen as a typological counterpart to Christian

Bbaptisui. ■ ■

Mid

; '' i.
i

. :.■•-

■ ,

..^y.fesAt.'iiWWi- MBfeC

26 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

In the account of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan (Matt
3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22) Tatian introduced a detail which
is absent from the three Gospels: as Jesus entered the water
'a great light appeared'. This was certainly not an entirely
new invention on Tatian's part; rather, he was simply adapt-
ing a tradition already in existence that fire had appeared at
Jesus' baptism. In Tatian's theology (which we know of from
his Oration to the Greeks) light is a much ' more ' important
theological symbol than fire, and it is probably for this reason
that he made the alteration (only one letter's difference in Syriac:
"nura" 'fire', but "nuhra" 'light'). . '

The familiar text of Jesus' words to Peter in Matt 16:18
reads 'on this rock will I build my church, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it'. Mere the precise meaning of
'gates of hell' is far from clear; most modern translations take
it as a metaphor and render it by 'powers of death* (thus e. g.
Revised Standard Version, New English Bible). The Syriac
Dialcssaron had a rather different wording, employing 'bars
of Sheol' instead (Sheol is the Hebrew and Aramaic term for
the place of the dead). At first sight this leaves the passage
just as obscure, but if we realize that the mention of 'bars'
carries with it an allusion to two Old Testament passages, Psalm
107:16 and Isaiah 45:2, then the intention behind the alteration
becomes clear: these passages, where God is described as 'shatter-
ing the doors of bronze and breaking the bars of iron', were
interpreted in the early Church ,as referring to Christ's descent
into Sheol. By introducing thp allusion to these Old Testament
passages which were taken . as. prefiguring • Christ's descent into
Sheol, Tatian is providing the reader with a clue- how to Inter-
pret Matt 16:18: Christ is promising Peter that the bars and
gates of Sheol will not be able to prevail against the Church,
just as they would not be able to prevail . against him at his -
coming descent into Sheol; just as he would ,'shatter. the doors'
and 'break the bars' of Sheol as he rose from the dead, so too
would the Church at the final. resurrection.

In two of these changes to the wording of the text Tatian
has introduced allusions, to the Old Testament. ..This is in itself
of interest, for he was writing at a time when Marcion and his

New Testament 11

followers were throwing out the Old Testament altogether from
use in the Church. ...

■ The first and third or these ; alterations arc known solely
from Syriac and other eastern witnesses, and they have left no
trace in the western Diatcssaron witnesses, such as the medieval
vernacular Gospel harmonies. Thus there is possibility that they
are the work of the author of the Syriac Diatessaron, rather than
of Tatian - (supposing that he wrote the Diatcssaron >n Greek,
rather than Syriac).

. ) ■ * ' *

(2) OLD SYRIAC

■ ■

■.•■■

•

■

-, . . . ,, ,

■ . ■ The Old Syriac version of the New Testament is known to
us .only Trom twd ancient manuscripts, both' containing just the
Gospels. There must have been a Syriac translation of the tfjst of
Acts and the Epistles prior to the time of ihc'Peshitta revision
(c.400), since Ephrem comments on these books; very little, how-
ever can be recovered of the actual wording of that part of the
Old' Syriac. In what follows .the term Old Syriac will refer only
to the Old Syriac trarwlatiotfof the : Gospels, . , ,,,,, >;

ti iv f i.'-' '«' ■ "•' ' ' ' ' ■ _ ...•', .,,!■

■ ■ The -two 1 "manuscripts' containing the Old Syriac .Gospels
are today known as the Curetonlan (C: after William 'Curctmi,
its first editor) and the Sinaitic (S; since the manuscript belongs
lo St Catherine's Monastery in Sinai). Neither is complete, and
the Sinaitic manuscript is .often illegible since the original text
has been sponged, off and another quite different text has then
been superimposed. Both C and -S have the title .'Gospel of the
Separated (.Evangelists)'," 1 .•Ewangclion^' da-Mcpharreshc, which JSf
evidently meant to distinguish this version of the ' four separate
Gospels from the 'Gospel of the Mingled (Evangelists)' , Ewangc-
lion da-Mehallctc, which refers to the Diatcssaron.

' ■• ' ' ' . it'* j'l

The date when the Old Syriac translation was made is
very uncertain, though- it is now thought certain that .it 'is. later
than the Diatcssaron. The dates to which modern' scholars have
assigned the translation range from the late second century to
the early fourth century (the two manuscripts themselves pro-
bably both belong to the fifth century).

28 T| le Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Syriac , rMsl .™' of G r o o rpa t ,£: C, :", ldOPU ' d , by m °" y <"'" :
*". A D 500 ,ha, ZlrZ?2?££.. °7 r T

wording or, he Pchiua Bij; ~ **"" *" ™V 6° again* .he

- tr™ %zz r s ' a,io "„ "**«~

■1.0 Greek her. a d ,h e T, '""m' ° r '**""<* <*™><
to reflect PalcsthJanA^ 2 Sometnncs these have been taken

the ^L*™ ^i^ f sr - (with the impikati - that

possibly had aeds, to 1" °! ^^T ^ *-"*■* or-

are best explained as S ^ ^ ? ** ^i 51 " 3
history of Syriac itself. " ealllei " Sta « e in th <=

(3) PESHITTA
The standard form nf »h. « • « ~,

New Testament 29

the Old Syriac, bringing it into closer line with the Greek. As

we have seen, the two Old Syriac manuscripts C and S them-

-.: selves show traces of sporadic revision. It seems likely that the

' process of revision which resulted in the Peshitta text as- we
know it was a long one, reaching its completion in the early
fifth century. In its final form the revision seems to have been
'marketed' very successfully, for it evidently rapidly replaced
the Old Syriac and Diatessaron and became- the standard text
for all the Syriac Churches. Traces of the older versions, the
Diatessaron and Old Syriac, did nevertheless survive here and

•^there, both as isolated readings in a few Peshitta manuscripts,
and in quotations by later writers; thus, for example, the read-
ing of the Syriac Diatessaron at Matt. 16:18, 'bars of Shcol'
(as opposed to 'gates of SheoF in both the Old Syriac and the
Peshitta), is still known to many writers after the fifth century,
long 'after the Diatessaron itself had been officially suppressed.

It has been suggested that the Peshitta revision was act-
ually the work of the great bishop of F.dessa, Rabbula (who died

[in 435). This, however, now seems unlikely, though Edessa
(with its famous theological school) may have been the place
from which the final form of the revision was propagated. It is
interesting that many early Peshitta manuscripts contain the

,'Eusebian canons', which provide a conyenient system of cross
references between the different Gospels (each Gospel is divided

: into numbered sections): perhaps this was a specific feature which

; accompanied the new 'edition' of the Syriac New Testament.
Bio ft. in ■ ' I • i

The Peshitta covers only those books which were regarded

■ by the Syriac Chruch as authoritative, namely,' the Gospels, Acts,

ft .the Pauline Epistles, James, I Peter, and I John. In early

''." -Peshitta manuscripts the Catholic Epistles come between, Acts and

- * he, Pauline Epistles, and not after the latter. 2 Peter, 2-3 John,

. Tudc and Revelation were not translated into Syriac .until the

Psixth century (possibly as part of the Philoxenian version, though

,;', this is not at all certain). A number of isolated verses, familiar

.from English translations of the New Testament, arc also missing

~ ; from the Peshitta: Matt. 27:35 b, Luke 22:17-18, John 7:53-8:11

;V(the. woman caught in adultery), Acts 8:37, 15:34 and 28:29; in

■.modern printed editions these are usually supplied from some

'-'•Jater version.

<« ■' ■ )

c?,

30 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

There is remarkably little variation between different
manuscripts of the Peshitta New Testament: only a rather small
number of Peshitta manuscripts preserve a few isolated readings
which go back to the Old Syriac. There are, however, one or two
passages of theological interest where variation has crept in. The
most famous of such passages is the end of Hebrews 2:9, where
manuscripts of East Syrian provenance regularly have 'for he
(Jesus), apart from God, tasted death on behalf of everyone',
while manuscripts of West Syrian origin have 'for by grace God
tasted death on behalf of everyone'. The variation has its origin
in the Greek; there the majority of manuscripts have 'by the
grace of God' ("chariti theou"), but a very small number have
'without God' ("choris theou"). Scholars have long argued over
which of these is the original reading, but as far as the Peshitta
is concerned it would seem that 'by grace God' (slightly different
from the Greek's 'by the grace of God') may belong to the original
Syriac translation, while 'without God' was perhaps introduced
into East Syrian manuscripts at an early date under the influence
of Theodore of Mopsucstia's strong support for that reading
(which for him had the advantage of avoiding any idea of the
Godhead suffering at the crucifixion: it is only the Man who
'tasted death', not God the Word).

(4) PHILOXENIAN

There has been much confusion among scholars over the
relationship between the Phiioxenian and the Hare lean versions
of the Spriac New Testament, but some recently published com-
mentaries on the Gospels by Philoxenus himselF have provided a
definite solution. Thus we now know that the Phiioxenian
version is lost, and that the very literal translation which does
survive is the Harclean (despite the fact that its editor unfor-
tunately gave it the title 'vcrsto Philoxcniana").

The Phiioxenian New Testament was not a completely new
translation, but a revision of the Peshitta, commissioned by
Philoxcnus of Mabbug and carried out by his chorcpiscopos
Polycarp. The work was completed in 508. Although no manu-
scripts containing the Phiioxenian survive, a number of quotations
from it are preserved in Philoxenus's commentaries on the

Hitifrr -

New Testament 31

Gospels; furthermore, in one of these (the Commentary on the
Prologue of John) Philoxenus explains why he commissioned the
revision. Philoxenus, who lived at a time of heated theological
controversy, was unhappy with some rather free renderings in
the Peshitta of passages such as Matt 1:1, 1:18, Heb 5:7, and
10:5, all of which have important theological implications for a
proper understanding of the nature of the incarnation. Philoxenus
complained that the rather loose rendering of these verses in the
Peshitta gave possible scope for 'a Nestorian interpretation* (as
he called it); accordingly he saw the need for a more exact rend-
ering of the Greek new Testament into Syriac. He himself put
it as follows:

When those of old undertook to translate these passages
they made mistakes in many things, whether intentionally
or through ignorance. These mistakes concerned not only
whatsis taught about the Economy in the flesh, but various
other things concerning different matters. It was for this
reason that we have now taken the trouble to have the
Holy Scriptures translated anew from Greek into Syriac.

Philoxenus' comments on Heb 5:7 illustrate the sort of
wording he was' 'Concerned about. First of all he quotes what he.
considers to be the correct translation of the Greek, 'He, who in
the days of his flesh...' ; he then goes on as follows:

In place of this they (the Peshitta's translators) translated
'when he was clothed in the flesh', and instead of trans-
« luting Paul they inclined towards the position of Nes-

torius, who cast the body onto the Word as one does a
garment onto an ordinary body, or as purple is put on
emperors (these are both favourite analogies among East
Syrian writers).

From these and other remarks by Philoxenus himself, we
can see that the prime motivation behind ; the Phiioxenian New
Testament was provided by the theological controversies of the
time and the need for an accurate and literal translation of the
Greek New Testament.

• It is possible that the anonymous sixth-century translation
of the minor Catholic Epistles (2 Peter, 2—3 John, Judc) and

•

32 The "Bible in the Syriac Tradition

■

;

,■

Revelation may belong to the Philoxcnian New Testament, in
which case they would be the only surviving representatives
of this version. The style of translation would seem appropriate
- for what we know of the Philoxcnian, but against this we need
to weight the fact that Philoxenus himself never secms'to quote
from these books, which would be a little surprising if he was the
person who had commissioned their first translation into Syriac.

(5) HARGLEAN

The Harclean version represents the culmination of the
long process of revision of the Syriac translation of the New
Testament. Its author was Thomas of Harkcl, who worked at
the same monastery as Paul of Telia, outside Alexandria, and at
the same time; he completed his work in 616. Their technique
ol highly sophisticated literal translation is very similar.

Thomas worked on the basis of the previous revision, the
Philoxcnian, and he covered the entire New Testament, includ-
ing the minor Catholic Epistles and Revelation. In contrast
to the Philoxenian, where the motivation seems to have been
primarily theological, the Harclean displays a much greater
interest in Philological detail: every particle of th? Greek origi-
nal is reflected in the translation. Thomas regularly strives- to
achieve a formal equivalence between the Greek and -the Syriac
text, with the result that it is possible for the modern scholar
to reconstruct the,' Greek text which he must have used as the
basis for his revision. As a matter of fact, Thomas did not con-
fine himself to one Greek manuscript, for the colophon, or note
at the end of the text, in many Harclean manuscripts speaks ef
his having used two or three different Greek manuscripts. It so
happens that one of the Greek manuscripts Which he used in
Acts is of great interest for the study of the transmission of the
Greek text of the New Testament, since it, contiins an archaic
type of the textual tradition which is. not well attested elsewhere.
-r!< ''-. . ■ ■ ■■ •'..',!.:.. . ... . . i

The Harclean version soon became popular in the Syrian
Orthodox Church and it was often used Jn Lectipnary ' maiu-
scripls, instead of the Peshitta, It was also used as the basis
for a harmony of the four Gospels which, covered the Passion
narrativeX "' -.••■■'; [J u ': ■

SECTION III
HOW DOES THE SYRIAC BIBLE REACH US?

•■

In this section we shall look at the ways In which the
Syriac Bible ii transmitted to us. Needless to say, no autographs
of any of the original translators survive; in the case of the Syro-
hexapla and Harclean, however, we do have some manuscripts
which must have been written less than a century after these
translations had been made. ■■•■> '> '■_ <•■'• "' '-ii':

1. Biblical Manuscripts ■ i '< i.v /.if/.

. . ■■ ; - , • ■ — . .Hi

A very large number of Syriac biblical manuscripts sur-
vive. These arc always in codex, or book, format, and the
writing material used is either vellum or paper, (which was
introduced in the Middle Ages). . The manuscripts can vary in
size, from the enormous 'pandects' containing the .whole Old
Testament or whole New Testament (very, rarely both together),
to miniature manuscripts written in a tiny script containing a
single' book; or small group of books,. The vast majority > of
manuscripts, however, are of more practical sizes, and normally
they contain a group of ■ books at a time. Occasionally;, one may
find a biblical book incorporated into a manuscript which other-
wise contains non- biblical texts. . ,. ;■..; ,|

' ii(| ■ .ill i t

-Many manuscripts have a colophon, or note by the scribe,

at the end, and this may give information about the place where
the manuscript was writtenj and the date. Normally the 'date is
given according to the S.cleucid era, or 'reckoning of the Greeks',
or 'of Alexander [the Great]', which began in October, B C 312;...
thus, for example, the year 771 of the Seleucid era will .corres-
pond to October 459 to September 460 in the Christian era. . ; ■
■•.>■.. s. .. ' .-; :. .... , . .. .

The oldest dated; Syriac biblical manuscript, a fragment
of Isaiah in' the British Library (Add. 14512), is in fact dated to
771 'according to the Greeks', that is, AD ; .459/P0; another
manuscript also in London (Add. 14425), ^containing Genesis and
Exodus,.is dated. 463/4. For the Peshitta New Testament . the
earliest dated manuscripts belong to the early sixth century; there

' ■ ' ' --s

34 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

arc, however, some undated ones which probably belong to the,
i.'ifth century.

A few manuscripts contain more than one different biblical !
version at the same time, arranged in parallel columns. Thus
there is one fragmentary manuscript containing the Peshitta .■
and Syro-hexapla of Isaiah set side by side. More frequently 1
such manuscripts are genuinely polyglot, and have versions in, "I
different languages. One of the earliest polyglot manuscripts-la, 'jj
u ninth-century Psalter, now in Leningrad: this has the Greek
the Syro-hexapla, and the Arabic texts set out in three columns.
More ambitious in scope are a group of fourteenth-century
manuscripts evidently written in Egypt, for the most part in-:'*s
tended for liturgical use among the multi-lingual groups of
monks in the Nitriau Desert. Two of these are Psalters which-
anticipate the earliest European polyglot Psalter of 1516: one : of >■
them has the text set out in five columns, containing Ethiopia, '1
Syriac (Peshitta), Coptic, Arabic and Armenian; the other has 13
the text in four columns, and this time the languages arc Arabic, [i
Syriac (Syro-hexapla), Greek and Hebrew. The inclusion of
Hebrew in a Christian biblical manuscript at that time seems to ,. :
be without parallel, and clearly the monk who compiled the I
manuscript must have been a remarkable scholar for his time, -.a

As far as each individual Syriac version is concerned, we
have the following picture;

OLD TESTAMENT (1) PESHITTA

There are very few manuscripts containing the complete I
Old Testament; it is significant that the majority of these be- j
long to the seventeenth century, for by that time the invention
of printing had accustomed people to the idea of a complete Old
Testament, or a complete Bible: these manuscripts werc ; in fact ;"|
written only shortly before the first printed edition of ^the -
whole Syriac Bible (the Paris Polyglot, of 1645; see below, ori
EDITIONS). The four earliest raanusripts containing (or once 'i
containing) the complete Peshitta Bible (Old and New Testa-
ments) are: •>

II-

Biblical Manuscripts 35

,! — the codex Ambrosianus, in the - Amhrosian Library,
Klilan, Italy (ms B. 21 Inf.; 7al in the Leiden edition of the
SPeshitta OT); this is written in a beautiful Estrangelo script,
[which can be dated to the sixth or seventh century.

jLi,, ' — Paris, Bibliothequc Nationale, Syriac ms 341 (8al in the
Jy^eiden edition); this is written in a neat Estrangelo script belong-
■fing to the eighth century, and it contains some illustrations

[■{portraits of Old Testament figures, and some scenes).

— Florence, Laurentian Library ms Or. 58 (9al in the
fcLeiden edition); this is written in serto script which can be dated

to Lhc ninth century.

— Cambridge, University Library ms Oo. I. l,2(12al in the
Leiden edition); this is written in a neat Estrangelo script which

[can be dated to the twelfth century; it also contains some illustra-
tions in the form of small portraits of biblical persons. : This
fctnanuscript has important connections with India, for it was
once in Kerala. Although it was written in north Mesopotamia,
..the manuscript was taken to India, perhaps some time in the
{[eighteenth century, for in 1806 the Syrian Orthodox bishop Mar
iDionysius I (Mar Thomas VI) presented it to Dr. Claudius
{Buchanan, Vice-Principal of Fort William College, Calcutta.
► Dr. Buchanan had spoken to him of plans to print the Syriac
frblc in England, and this was the reason for Mar Dionysius'
generous gift. Use was indeed made of 'the Buchanan Bible'
■{as the manuscript came to be called) in preparing the printed
^edition, and when it was finally published (in 1823) copies were
: sent to Kerala. (This edition has recently (1979) been re-issued
\ by the United Bible Societies).

I ?

If we compare the contents and order of books in these

four complete Old Testaments, we will discover that they all
^.differ in several respects both in the books they contain and in
[{■the order in which they give them. It is thus clear that neither
■'[contents nor order of books was regarded as being at all fixed,
KThis is i° f act hardly surprising when one remembers that
'•nianuscripts containing the complete Bible arc the exception,
' and ■ that normally a biblical manuscript will only contain a

group of books (such as the Pentateuch) at a time.

£3

36 The Bibfe in the Syriac Tradition

The order of books in the oldest of these complete
Peshitta Bibles, the codex Ambrosianus, has a number of inter-
esting features which are worth looking at briefly; the order*;
and contents arc as follows: Pentateuch, Job, Joshua, Judges,
1-2 Samuel, Psalms, 1-2 Kings, Proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isarih, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Letters of Jeremiah and; of liaruch, Baruch, Ezekicl, 12 Minor
Prophets, Daniel, Bel and the Dragon, Ruth, Susanna, Esther;
Judith, Hen Sira, 1-2 Chronicles, Apocalypse of Baruch, IV Ezra ^
(Esdras), Ezra, Nehemiah, 1-4 Maccabees.

The contents have :t number of surprises, for we find in- J
eluded here several books which are considered by most western. ■
Churches to be outside the Old Testament Canon, and among f
these are several which are not even to be found in the so-called
'Apocrypha' or Deutcr-o-Cunonical Books. This applies above
all to the Apocalypse of Baruch and IV Ezra, both of which arj<
long apocalyplic works of Jewish origin and dating probably frpir|
the late first century AD; die codex Ambrosianus is in fact the*L_
only Syriac manuscript to contain these two books in full (thereof
are some extracts included in a few Lactionarics). Both books. I
were translated into Syriac from Greek, but the Greek text doers "*
not survive (apart from a few fragments for the Apocalypse of
Baruch); for IV Ezra there is also a Latin and a Georgian trans-
lation in existence, bnt for the Apocalypse of Baruch we have no
other witness apart from this manuscript and a Later Arabia

translation.

'■' 5

The older of the books also has a number of surprises
In the first place, we can observe that the scribe has for the most, i
part tried to arrange them in historical order, according to then
date of each book's supposed author. This explains why Psalms,^
(attributed to David) comes between Samuel and Kings; and <J
why the various books attributed to Solomon follow Kings. 'It 1 "
also explains why Job follows immediately after the Pentateuch
when one realizes that Job has been identified with Jobab (Gen
10:29); probably the same tradition was already known by the
Essene Community at Qjumran, for the only biblical manuscripts -J
from Qumran written in the Old Hebrew script are books ofs
the Pentateuch and Job: evidently this particular script was'J

Biblical Manuscripts 37

reserved for books originating in the patriarchal period. This
position for Job is in fact quite common in Syriac biblical manu-
scripts (thus it likewise follows the Pentateuch in both the Paris
nd the Cambridge complete Peshitta Bibles).'

I It will be noticed that codex Ambrosianus groups all the
uooks'on women together (Ruth, Susanna, Esther, Judith).
This seems to have been quite a widespread practice from the
sixth century onwards, and this group of books is often given the
. title 'the book of the Women'.

East Syrian manuscripts from the ninth century onwards

^usually have a group of books entitled Beth Mawtbe, or 'Sessions'

(the reason for this title is obscure); this, consists of Joshua,

•Judges, Samuel, Kings, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Song of

r Songs, Ben Sira, Job.

It is of interest to have some idea of the number of
manuscripts containing parts of the Peshitta Old Testament. In
*the 'following list, arranged by century, it is important to re-
member that (1) the dating of Syriac manuscripts is often rather
uncertain (only a few biblical manuscripts have dates provided
; 'in the colophoues); and (2) the great majority of these manu-
scripts contain only a single group or books at a time (or some-
* times only one book).

i't .

sixth century

seventh cent.
eighth cent.
ninth cent.
tenth cent,
eleventh cent,
twelfth cent,
thirteenth cent.
fourteenth cent,
fifteenth cent,
sixteenth cent,
■seventeenth cent.
eighteenth cent,
nineteenth cent.

— 27 mss (often only one book, and

often fragmentary)

— 32 mss (same applies).

— 10 mss

— 12 mss

— 23 mss

— 5 mss

— 9 mss

— 7 mss
- — 3 mss

— 6 mss

— 16 mss

— 26 mss

— 17 mss

— 23 mss

'■•-f

.'.•

38 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition f

For the rather large number of early manuscripts we owe a special
debt of gratitude to the abbot Moses of the Syrian Monastery
in the Nitrian Desert {between Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt)
for in the early tenth century be collected together a fine library
of old Syriac manuscripts which he acquired in Mesopotamia.
Subsequently most of the manuscripts in the Syrian Monastery's
library came to the Vatican Library (in the eighteenth century
and the British Library (nineteenth century).

1
The earliest manuscripts are divided up into unnumbered
paragraphs. It is intriguing to discover that in some books at
least (notably Isaiah) these paragraph breaks very frequently
occur at the same place asThe paragraph breaks in the two
Hebrew manuscripts of Isaiah from Qumran, as well as those in
the traditional Hebrew text, reproduced in modern editions of •
the Hebrew Bible (the two systems are not identical, and the .'
Peshitta represents a slightly different third tradition). Evidently
the Syriac translator must have taken over the paragraph divisions
from the Hebrew text be was translating. Later manuscripts of
the Peshitta often introduce quite different paragraph breaks.

The earliest manuscripts have no chapter divisions. The
division of books of the Peshitta Old Testament into numbered
chapters (in Syriac, "sliahc") is first attested in some ' East '!
Syrian manuscripts of the eighth century; subsequently this
system was adopted by West Syrian scribes as well. A lew manu-
scripts (such as tbe Buchanan Bible) have two concurrent systems
of numbering, the first being the standard system, and the other
being a cumulative system running right through the Old Testa-
ment (or group of books within the Old Testament). It should be
noted that these chapter divisions only very rarely coincide with
the chapter divisions familiar from modern translations of the
Bible (for whose origin, see Section 1).

Finally, before leaving the Peshitta Old Testament, we
should look at the way in which the text itsch has been trans-
mitted over the centuries. On the whole one can say that Syriac
scribes were generally very careful when they copied the biblical
text. As a result, we find remarkably little, variation between the
different manuscripts (the situation is very different with the Sep-

""fli

Biblical Manuscripts 3?

tUaglnt, where great variation occurs); moreover, where variants

Rio occur, they are only rarely of much consequence. Nevertheless

Mhe Peshitta text is not entirely uniform over the centuries, and

KTeccnt studies have suggested that the following is the general

^pattern of development in the history of the Peshitta text for each

book:

[1] Oldest stage. Very few witnesses to this stage survive,
fjbnd often they are manuscripts which pose particular problems.
It seems likely that in this oldest stage the text of the Peshitta
yas rather closer to the Hebrew original than is the case .with the
*"' text during the later stages. If we had more manuscripts dating
rom the fifth century we would probably be in a belter position
to recover more of this archaic stage.

[2] The next stage is represented by manuscripts of the
•sixth to eighth centuries (inclusive); since we are rather well
provided with manuscripts from this time, this stage represents
the earliest stage in the history of the Peshitta text which we can
^recover. The difference between this stage and the oldest stage
R£(not fully recoverable) are probably the result of attempts to
| ^smooth over the original translation here and there in the inte-
." rests of good Syriac idiom.

[3J The third stage is provided by manuscripts of the
.ninth century and later, and is often referred to as the 'Textus
..' Receptus', or Received Text. The differences between the
'" Textus Receptus and the text of stage 2 are not very many (there
Stare some 50 in the whole of Isaiah), and are rarely of great signi"
% ficance. It remains unclear how or why this development took
■place — was it a gradual process, continuing the sort of changes
y) that had already taken place between stages 1 and 2, or was it
.;_ the product of a conscious revision by a particular person (and if
'"so, by what criteria did he work)?

' '\ > ■ ■ ■

The following are a few typical examples of differences

between stages 2 and 3, taken from Isaiah:

Isaiah 13:8 'their eyes will not have pity on their
children') Textus Receptus has 'your children'.

--■

Ittte. •

.' • •

40 The Bible in the Syrtac Tradition

Isaiah 52:18 'there is none who takes her by her hand']
Textus Reccptus adds r and raises her'.

Isaiah 66:21 'And I will also take from them priests and
Levites'] Textus Receptus omits 'And'.

Most of the changes arc very minor, and are introduced in order
to achieve smoother reading.

The Paris manuscript of the entire Ptshitta Bible (Paris
syr 341-8 al) is of interest in this connection, for the text copied
by the original scribe belongs to stage 2, but at some later date
someone else has come along and systematically altered the text
in order to make it conform to the Textus Receptus (stage 3).

[4] In the course of the later Middle Ages the Textus
Receptus itself underwent some further developments, mostly
involving- very minor changes (probably due to the inadvertence
of scribes.) It so happens that the earliest printed editions of
the Syriac Bible employed late manuscripts, and so their text
represents the latest stage in the history of the development of the
Peshitta text.

OLD TESTAMENT [2] SYRO-HEXAPLA

Although several different early manuscripts of parts oT
the Syro-hexapla survive, these do not cover the entire Old
Testament; the two earliest Syro-hexapla manuscripts (Add.
14442 with parts of Genesis; Add. 12134, with Exodus) were both
written in the seventh century, thus less than eighty or so years
away from the date of Paul of Telia's original translation. Some
Syro-hexapla manuscripts contain single books, while others
have groups of books.

The most famous Syro-hexapla manuscript, however, is an
enormous manuscript containing the second half of the Old Testa-
ment, in the Ambrosian Library, Milan (ms C 313 Inf.); it is
usually dated to the late eighth or early ninth century, and since
the Syro-hexapla is translated from Greek, it is not surprising
that the order of the biblical books is that found in many manu-
scripts of the Scptuagint, namely Psalms, Job, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ben Sira,

Biblical Manuscripts 41

f F -T The m "nuWipi is written in a beautiful Estrangelo hand,

7 2 m^ n a e large numbers of notes, usually providing

and in the margins arc iiarg comm ns of Origen's

appeared and must be presumed lost for good.

The Ambrosian manuscript of the Syro-hexapla has a
system of chapter numbering which is quite different from the one
system oi uwp drives from one of the several

« "SLjrswS - ****■ RM "r si "" ,i ' i " 5l> ;

„„c famous Pchilta mam.sc.ip., the comptet. KM* 7,1,

now in Milan.

We shall pass over here the two other translations of the
Old T« a ment, made from Greek, the one possibly sponsored
Z 7w£Z -. the other made by Jacob of Edessa » his old
age. BoUr these survive in fragmentary form, in old manuscripts.

NEW TESTAMENT [1] DIATESSARON

No biblical manuscript containing any part of the Syriac
1 • . anH the text has to be reconstructed from

Diatessaron survives, and the text nas to ir n hrcm's

he Quotations from the Diatessaron incorporated into Lphrcm
Sntenta^ on the Diatessaron (which itself does not survtv,
complete in Syriac).
NEW TESTAMENT [2] OLD SYRIAC

We have already seen that the Old Syriac survives in two
fifth-century manuscripts, the Curetonian r and the Sinaiticu,
Neither of these is preserved in a complete state.

The Curetonian manuscript comes from the Syrian Mona-
steryan the Nitrian Desert, and only a lew years ago^ missing
leaf from the manuscript (now in London, Add. 14451) was

42 The BibTe in the Syriac Tradition

discovered among the Syriac manuscripts still remaining in the
monastery (three further leaves found their way to Berlin). The
Gospels are arranged in an unusual order, Matthew, Mark, John,
Luke.

The Siuaiticus (St. Catherine's Monastery ,Sinat, ms syr.30)
was discovered in 1892 by Mrs. Agnes Smith Lewis, a remarkable
and very learned Scottish lady who made many discoveries of
biblical and other manuscripts in the middle East during the
course of her travels with her twin sister, Mrs Margaret Smith
Gibson. The original manuscript containing the text of the Old
Syriac Gospels was recycled by a certain John the anchorite in
A D 779: the writing was sponged off, and the leaves were re-
used to form a new codex in which a totally different text was
copied (Lives of some women saints). The manuscript as we know
it today is thus a palimpsest, with the Old Syriac as the under-
writing. Fortunately, 8 certain amount of the underwriting still
shows through, and thanks to a great deal of patience, it was
eventually possible to publish quite a large amount, of this under-
writing containing the Old Syriac, It is to be hoped that modern
techniques for reading palimpsests will before long enable scholars
to read rather more of this text which is of such interest for
biblical studies.

NEW TESTAMENT (3) PESHITrA

Quite a large number of manuscripts from the sixth (and
a few from the fifth) century survive; normally these contain just
the Gospels (and many of them survive only in a fragmentary
state), but one of the earliest dated manuscripts is one containing
the Pauline Epistles (A D 533/4). Perhaps the most famous of
early Peshitta New Testament manuscripts is a Gospel manuscript
dated A D 586, in the Laurentian Library, Florence; this contains
a remarkable set of illustrations, executed by the monk Rabbula
(hence the manuscript is often referred to as 'the Rabbula Gos-
pels'; this Rabbula should of course be carefully distinguish from
Rabbula^ bishop of Edessa).

The three Catholic Epistles (James, 1 Peter, 1 John) nor-
mally come between Acts and the Pauline Epistles. The order

,i.' ; -.

Biblical Manuscripts 43

or the Pauline Epistles is the same as the order familiar from the
Greek and from modern translations. Sometimes at the ends
of the individual Gospels and Pauline Epistles short historical
notes arc given, such as 'Ended is the preaching of Mark, which
he uttered in Latin in Rome', or 'Ended is the Letter to the
Romans, which was written from Corinth at the hands of Phoebe
the deaconess' ■ Though such notices are not historically reliable,
they are of interest since they show what views were current in
the sixth century or so.

As is the casein the Peshitta Old Testament, there is re-
markably little variation in text between different manuscripts
of the Peshitta New Testament. Only in a few Gospels manu-
scripts can traces be found of the earlier Old Syriac version.
One of the few major variants, at Hebrews 2:9, has already been
mentioned at an earlier stage.

NEW TESTAMENT (4) PHILOXENIAN

In the past scholars have occasionally tried to identify
particular manuscripts as containing the Philoxcnian, version,
but these attempts were misguided, and it is now realized that
no manuscripts of the Philoxcnian survive, with the possible exce-
ption of those which contain the sixth-century translation of the
books absent from the Peshitta Canon. Our onty direct access to
the Philoxcnian is thus by way of the quotations made from it
which can be found in Philoxcnus' commentaries and other works.

The sixth-century translation of the four Catholic Epistles
absent from the Peshitta (2 Peter, 2-3 John, Jude) is preserved
in a fairly small number of manuscripts, of which the oldest is
dated A D 823. Most of these manuscripts contain the rest of
tTie-NewTeStamenr in the Peshitta version (this, for example,
is the case with the Buchanan Bible). For Revelation, however,
the sixth-century translation is preserved in a single manuscript,
dating from the twelfth or thirteenth century. As Was mentioned
earlier, it is not certain whether these anonymous translations are
to be identified as part of the Philoxenian New Testament,
or not.

I c

44 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition
NEW TESTAMENT (5) HARCLEAN

The vast majority of manuscripts of the Harclcan version
contain only the Gospels. Several of these belong to the eight or
ninth centuries. For the rest of the New Testament, by contrast,
we are not at all well off: for Revelation a small number of
manuscripts are available, but only two manuscripts (Oxford,
New College 333, of the eleventh century, and Cambridge, Add.
1700, of 1169/70) are definitely known to have the Harclean test
of Acts and the Epistles as well.

2. Lectionaries

The Bible was read in the context of liturgical worship
from the very beginnings of the existence of the Church (at first,
of course, it was just the Old Testament, before the written New
Testament had come into being). In the early centuries of the
Church's life biblical tmnuscripts containing the relevant parts
of Scripture were used. In the sixth century some Syriac
biblical, manuscripts provided help in locating lections by insert,
ing lectionary headings (sometimes in red) at the beginning of
passages to be read on particular feasts. Sometimes lists of
readings throughout the liturgical year were compiled, but these
did not include the text of the (lections; a sixth-century index of
lectiohs of this sort survives in the British Library (Add. 14528).
The practice of incorporating lectionary headings at appropriate
places in ordinary biblical manuscripts continued in the seventh
and eighth centuries, and sometimes later as well, even after the
adoption of the bright idea of having separate books, containing
just the lections, and arranged in their liturgical order.

It is unknown when this idea of having a special lectionary
manuscript for lections was first introduced; the earliest Greek
lectionary manuscripts (all very fragmentary) seem to belong to
the fifth century, but the idea does not appear to have become
popular until some centuries later. Certainly in the Syriac Chur-
ches it is the case that there are no Syriac lectionary manuscripts
dating from earlier than the ninth century. It is ofcourse possible
that earlier lectionary manuscripts did once exist, and that they
have disappeared simply because they had more wear and tear
than ordinary biblical manuscripts; this suggestion, however,

Printed Editions 45

should probably be rejected, for two reasons: (1) since biblical
manuscripts of the sixth and seventh century were provided with
lectionary headings, they too Would have been subject to the same
wear and tear; (2) we suddenly have quite a lot of lectionary
manuscripts dating from the ninth century, and belonging to all
three Churches using Syriac as a liturgical language — the Syrian
Orthodox, the Church of the East, and the Byzantine Orthodox
(Mclkitc) Church in Syria and Palestine. It thus seems likely
that the practice of collecting together the lections into special
manuscripts was introduced into all the Syriac Churches at some
time around A D 800.

Since different parts of the Bible were read at different
points in the liturgical services, it became the usual practice to
have separate lectionaries for Old Testament lections, for Gospel
lections and for lections from the Acts and the Epistles. The text
employed in ifccLioharics was normally the Peshitta, but in the
Syrian Orthodox Church use was also sometimes made of the
Syro-hexapla and of the Harclean. In particular, there are many
Harclean Gospel lectionaries which survive; In some Gospel
lectionary manuscripts a harmony has been created for the
Passion narrative, based on the text of the Harclcan; two differ-
ent sequences arc attested, and one of these is asssociated (in a
colophon) with the names of a certain Rabban Mar Daniel and
his disciple Isaac.

There appears to have been considerable variation in the 1
allocation and arrangement of lections, not only between the
different Syriac Churches, but also within each of the Churches,
hr the Church of the East two particular systems in due course
came to dominate the scene: firstly the 'Cathedral' lectionary
system of the patriarchal church formerly in Seleucia — Ctesiphon,
and secondly the monastic lectionary cycle developed at the
Upper Monastery in Mosul.

3. Printed Editions

The first printed edition of the Syriac New Testa-
ment was publiscd by Johann Widmanstetter in 1555 at Vienna.
In the work of preparing the edition Widmanstetter had been

■:

46 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

assisted by a Syrian Orthodox priest , Moses of Mardin , who
spent some time in Europe acting as teacher of Syriac to various
scholars. The text of this edition was often reprinted, sometimes
in Hebrew characters.

For the Peshitta Old Testament the earliest printed editions
were of the Psalter; the first was prepared by Martin Trostius
in 1622, to be followed shortly afterwards by two other editions
both of which were published in 1625, one in Leiden prepared
by Thomas Erpcnius, and the other in Paris prepared by the
Maronite scholar Gabriel Sionita.

The next two Syriac biblical texts to be published were not
from the Peshitta, but from one of the later versions. In 1627 Louis
de Dieu published the Harclean Apocalypse (Leiden), and In 1630
Edward Pococke published the four minor Catholic Epistles which
are missing from the Peshitta (Oxford); the version he published
was the anonymous sixth-century one, rather than the Harclean in
later literature on the Syriac versions they are often referred to as
the 'Pococke Epistles'). None of these texts ofcoursc featured in
Widmanstetter's edition of the Peshitta New Testament, and their
absence had surprised and even shocked European scholars.

The complete Old Tastament Peshitta was first published
in volumes 6 — 9 of the great 'Paris Polyglot' (1645). edited by
G. M. Le Jay; the edition of the Syriac text was the work of
Gabriel Sionita. The Paris Polyglot also included the Syriac New
Testament, supplementing the Peshitta text with the 'Pococke
Epistles' and the Harclean Apocalypse.

.The Syriac text of the Paris Polyglot served as the basis
for the next . edition of the Peshitta Bible, in Brian Walton's
London Polyglot (1655--7).

In both the Polyglot Bibles the Syriac text is provided
with a Latin translation. Their text is not a very good one since
very late manuscripts (all West Syrian) were employed as the
basis.

The next important edition of the Syriac Bible was that
prepared by Samuel Lee, published in London in 1823. Although

Printed Editions 47

the text was mostly derived from Walton's Polyglot, some, use
was made of the Buchanan Bible in preparing this influential
edition. The Old Testament text is unvocalized but the New
Testament is vocalized. The contents of the Old Testament
were dictated by rhc contents of the King James Version of the
Bible (the 'Apocrypha' are absent), though the order of the books
in part follows patterns found in Peshitta manuscripts: thus, for
example, Job comes between Deuteronomy and Joshua. In the
New Testament, however, the standard order of editions of the
Greeks text (and of modern translations) was followed, that is,
with the Pauline Epistles following immediately after Acts. For
the books absent from the Peshitta. the 'pococke Epistles' and
the Harclean Apocalypse are employed. An interesting feature
of this edition of the New Testament is the presence of numerous
lectionary headings, which have been taken over from one of
the manuscripts which Lee used. . ■ nJ -

.! I, J .'.Ml ■■

Lee's edition has been re-issued by the .United 'Bible
Societies (1979) , in an expanded form, and with a brief preface
by the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Ya 'qub III. The
added material is the text of the Dcutero-canonical books, under
the title 'Books of ihfe Apocrypha'; these are reproduced from
handwriting (Serto) and include the following: Wisdom ; of Solo-
mon, Ben Sira, 2 Letters of Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, T-2
Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, supplimcnts to Esther, Susanna.

The first printed' edition of the Peshitta based at least in
part on East Syrian manuscripts was published in Urmia (NW
Iran) in 1852 by the American Presbyterian Mission. The
edition has a Modern Syriac translation (from Hebrew, rather
than from the Peshitta) in parallel columns. The Urmia edition
served as the basis for another edition using the East Syrian
script, published by the Trinitarian Bible Society in New York
(1913) and often reprinted. , Both these editions follow the order
of books familiar from most English translations. . ,

Another edition of the Peshitta using East Syrian manus-
cripts (and including the New Testament) was published by the
Dominican Fathers at Mosul in 1887 — 92 (in three volumes); this
had been prepared by Clement Joseph David, Syrian Catholic

it-.--

48 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Archbishop of Damascus, and George Abdisho Khayyat, Chal-
daean Archbishop of Amid (Diyarbckir). The order of the Old
Testament book is the same as that of I be Urmia edition, but
inserted among them are the so-called Dcuicro-canoirical books
{absent from Protestant Bibles), such as Wisdom of Solomon
and Ben Sira (between the Song of Songs and Isaiah). The New
Testament follows the standard Greek order; for the books not
in the Peshitta use is made of the 'Pococke Epistles' and the
Harelean Ravelation.

The Beirut edition of the Peshitta (1952) is largely based

on the Mosul edition.

■•-■■■■ ■ . i ••

AH the editions mentioned so far arc based on late and

often not very good manuscripts. For most purposes this may not

matter very much, but for more scholarly purposes it is obviously

important to have a more reliable text of the Peshitta available,

"based on the oldest manuscripts. This is essential, for example, if

one wishes to study the Peshitta Old Testament as a translation

of the Hebrew.

In the last century or so various attempts have been made
by scholars to produce better editions of the Syriac Bible. The
following are some of the more important:

(a) Old Testament (Peshitta)

— Beginning in 1876 A.M. Ceriani started to publish a
photo-lithographic reproduction of the Old Testament text of the
famous Ambrosian manuscript of the Peshitta (7al); this work,
completed in 1883, made available for the first time the text of
the oldest surviving manuscript of the complete Peshitta Old
Testament.

— Various scholars have prepared editions of individual
books of the Peshitta Old Testament, based on the oldest manu-
scripts available. These include: the Pentateuch (W. E. Barnes,
1914; a revision of the text in Lee's edition using" old manuscripts)
Psalms (W.E.Barnes, 1904); Isaiah (G. Diettrich, 1905; no text is
given, but there is a full list of variant readings to be found in 22
manuscripts is given); Lamentations (B. Albrektson, 1963); Chro-
nicles (W. E. Barnes, 1897; list of variant readings in several early

Printed Editions -49

manuscripts, without the text); Apocrypha (P. dc Lagarde, 1861;
based on early manuscripts in the British Library); Wisdom of
Solomon (J. A. Emerton, 1959).

— In the 1950s the International Organisation for the Study
of the Old Testament began to make plans for a critical edition
of the Peshitta Old Testament, and in 1959 Professor P. A. H. de
Boer, of the University of Leiden in Holland, was appointed
general editor. In 1961 the new Peshitta Institute at Leiden
published a preliminary List of Old Testament Peshitta Manu-
scripts, prepared largely by W. Baars and M. D. Kostcr. (Every
now and then supplements to this invaluable basic list are pub-
lished in the periodical Vetus Testamentum). Five years later,
in 1966, a sample edition containing the Song of Songs, Tobit and
the Apocalypse of Baruch was published. Over the following
years the following volumes have appeared:

I I Genesis and Exodus (ed. T. Jansma,

M.D. Roster, 1977).
II 2 Judges and Samuel (ed. P. B. Dirksen,
P. A. H. de Boer, 1978).

3 Psalms (ed. D. M. Walter and others, 1980).

4 Kings (ed. H. Gottlieb and E. Hammershaimb

1976).

5 Proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiastcs, Song

of Songs (ed. A, A. di Leila, J. A, Emerton,
D. J. Lane). ^- — , ' • '

1 Isaiah (ed. S. P. Brock, 1987).

la Job (ed. L. G. Ringnell, 1982).

3 Ezekiel (ed. M. J. Mulder, 1985).

It
II

III
III
III
III

•'.

■■

Twelve Prophets, Daniel, Bel and the Dragon
(ed. A. Gelston, T. Sprey, 1980)..

IV 3 Apocalypse of Baruch and 4 Esdras (ed. R. J.
Bidawid, 1973). -

IV 6 Canticles or Odes, Prayer of Manassch, Apocry-
phal Psalms, Psalms of Solomon, Tobit, 1 (3)
Esdras (ed. H. Schneider, W. Baars
J. C. H. Lebram, 1972).

■.-

50 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition i

It is hoped to complete the edition some time in the 19903.
Estarngelo script is used throughout. The text printed is basically
that of the Ambrosian manuscript, 7a 1, though its manifest errors
are corrected. Below the text there is an apparatus which gives
all the variants to be found in manuscripts before 1300 (obvious
errors and orthographical differences arc excluded there, but
receive mention in the introductions to each volume, where the
manuscripts used arc described). Editions earlier than 1977
give variants in later manuscripts as well, and the text in these
volumes adheres more rigidly to 7al than is the case in later
volumes. The importance of the Leiden edition lies .in the fact
that it provides for the first time information about the earliest
forms of the Pcshitta text, before the development of the medi-
eval Tcxtus Reccptus (which is the b.xsis of all the older editions
of the Peshitta Bible).

(b) New Testament (Pcshitta)

— For the Peshitta Gospels an edition (with facing Latin
translation) based on a considerable number of the earliest sur-
viving manuscripts was prepared by P. E. Pusey and published
(after Puscy's death) by G. H. Gwilliam in 1901. The intention
had been to cover the. rest of the New Testament, but this nevcr
came to fruition; the provisional text for litis edition, however,
was published, without any variant readings, by the British
and Foreign Bible Society in 1920. This edition of the Peshitta
New Testament, printed in vocalized serto script, is the most
reliable one available, and it has been reprinted many times.
The Syriac order of books is followed; with James, I Peter and
I John coming after Acts. Use was made or the' anonymous
sixth-century translation for the minor Catholic Epistles (the
'Pocockc Epistles') and Revelation, since these are absent from
the Peshitta; the text of these was based on the excellent editions
by J. Gwynn (minor Catholic Epistles, 1909; Revelation, 1897).
These are all printed together at the cud. For odd verses absent
from the Peshitta (notably John 7:53-8:11) a later translation
has been inserted between square brackets. Besides the western
chapter and verse numbers, the native Syriac section numbers
("shahc") are given in the margin (these very rarely correspond
with the western chapter divisions).

Printed Editions 51

— In 1983 The Way International (New Knoxville, Ohio,
USA) published a volume entitled 'The Aramaic New Testament,
Estrangelo script, based on the Peshitta and liarklcau Versions',
The Peshitta text is taken from three early manuscripts in the
British Library, but for the books absent from the Peshitta, the
text of Gwynn's editions of the anonymous sixth-century versions
is used (the title page and Introduction mistakenly call them the
Harclcan). The order of books follows that of editions of the
Greek text and of modern translations. Though in many ways
this is a practical edition, with a good text and clearly printed,
the absence of any punctuation marks (beyond dverse ivisions)
makes for difficult reading, especially in the Epistles.

— The Institut fur neutcstamentlichc Text forschung at
Munstcr (West Germany) is in the process of editing the Syriac
New Testament in both the Peshitta and the Harclcan versions.
The first volume of this important scholarly enterprise covers the
major Catholic Epistles (James, 1 Peter, 1 John), and was pub-
lished in 1 906 (ed. B. Aland). For the Peshitta a selected group
of nine early manuscripts has been used, while for the Harclcan
all three available manuscripts are employed. A notable feature
of this edition is the extensive use made of quotations from the
New Testament in Syriac writers. The text of the Peshitta,
Harclcan and the various quotations is set out line by line so
that that one can immediately see the differences between them.
There is a long introduction dealing' with the transmission of
the text and the relationships between the Syriac texts and their
underlying Greek originals.

\ . ■

For the Syro-hcxapla the most important editions are:.

— the photo-lithographic edition of the Milan manuscript
(C. 313 Inf.) containing the second half of the Syro-hcxapla,
published by A. M, Gcriani (1874). ,y ,

— the collection of all Syro-hexapla texts available for the
first half of the Old Testament by P. de Lagarde and .A. Rahlfs
(Bibliothecac Syriacae, 1892).

52 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

. ' — a collection of New Syro-Hexaplai ic Texts, edited by
W. Baars (1968, with a valuable introduction on the history
of earlier editions).

t — a photographic edition, by A. Voobus, of a Syro-hexapla
manuscript of the Pentateuch dated 1204 (1975).

•• \- :■■- For the anonymous sixth-century version of the minor
Catholic Epistles and Revelation, mention has already been made
jof the editions by Gwynn (1897 for Revelation, 1905 for the
minor 1 Catholic Epistles).

The only edition of the Harclean New Testament was
publiscd long ago by J. White (Gospels, 1778; Acts and Epistles,
1799, 1803). The work was given the misleading title Versio Syriaca
Philoxcniana; today, however, it is known for certain that the
text of White's edition is the Harclean, and not the Philoxcnian.
The end of White's manuscript is lost, and so his edition ends at
Hebrews 11:27. The rest of Hebrews was published from another
manuscript by R. Bensly (1889). The Harclean text of Revelation,
first published by L. De Dieu in 1627, appears in most subsequent
editions of the Syriac New Testament published in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. A photographic edition of a further
manuscript of the Harclean text of Revelation has recently been
published by A. Voobus (1978). There is also a separate edition
of the Harclean text of St. John (G.H.Bernstein, 1853).

(d) Tools

There are no complete concordances to the Syriac Bible
available yet. For the Peshitta Old Testament there are a number
of concordances to individual books available (mostly prepared
by W. Strothmann and assistants); these are based on some of the
older printed editions.

A concordance to the Peshitta New Testament was prepared
by A. Bonus, but this has never been published. The so-called
Concordance to the Peshitta Version of the Aramaic New Testa-
ment (1985) is in fact not a concordance, but a word list. A handy
Syriac-English dictionary to the Syriac New Testament was
published by W. Jennings (1926).

i I

Translations 53

4. Translations

The Peshitta has been translated into a number of different
languages over the course of its history; most of these are old
ones, such as translations into Persian and Sbgdian (only fragments
of these survive). Many translations of different parts of the
Peshitta into Arabic were . made in the Middle. Ages, and one
sometimes finds (especially in lectionary manuscripts) the Syriac
and Arabic in parallel columns (the Arabic often written in Syriac

script, known as Karshuni).

t • ■ . i.

In the Polyglot editions of the Bible the Peshitta text was

provided with a Latin translation. . ' ■■'■•■ t

1,1 . .

" The only complete English translation of the Peshitta is by
G. Lamsa. This is unfortunately not always very accurate, and
his claims that the Peshitta Gospels represent the Aramaic
original underlying the Greek Gospels are entirely without found-
ation; such views, which are not infrequently found in more
popular literature, are rejected by all serious scholars. .■■ ■ ■

There is an older English translation of the Peshitta New
Testament by James Murdock (1893).

A good modern, translation of the Peshitta, or at least of
passages used in the lectionary, is very much needed.

There seem to be at least three translations of the Peshitta
New Testament into Malayalam.

■ I.l-

. i

SECTION IV

BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION IN THE
SYRIAC TRADITION

■

The Bible can be interpreted on many different levels.
For our present purpose it will be sufficient to follow the practice
oT several Syriac writers and to distinguish between two different
modes of interpretp.tion. St. Ephrem already makes the distin-
ction between Tactual' and 'spiritual' interpretation (today we
might prefer to call the first of these 'historical'). The factual
or historical interpretation is primarily concerned with illumina-
ting the circumstances surrounding episodes in the Bible: who
were the people involved, when and where did they live, and
so on. The spiritual interpretation, on the other hand, is con-
cerned with the eternal truths underlying the text; it seeks to
penetrate beyond the surface meaning to the various inner
meanings.

Where historical interpretation is concerned we arc dealing
with facts, and we can speak of a historical interpretation as
being 'correct' or 'incorrect', or as 'right' or 'wrong' (though
often we do not have sufficient evidence to decide conclusively
between the two). This is quite different from the situation with
spiritual interpretation: here it is not a case of one interpretation
being iright and another wrong, for there is never one ^correct'
interpretation to the exclusion of all others. Often several spiri-
tual interpretations may be simultaneously valid. For a spiritual
interpretation to be valid, it must be meaningful in a particular
context; and to be meaningful, it must provide insight on the
world of objective spiritual truth or reality. These two criteria
are important: the first helps us to realize that the same spititual
interpretation may be valid (that is, meaningful) to one person,
but not to another; or it may be meaningful to the same person
at one time, but not at another. The second criterion is important
because spiritual interpretation which (provides insight on obje-
ctive spiritual truth is much more likely to be" found within
orthodox Christian tradition~than~in some other form of Christi-
anity which is given to an individualistic and highly subjective
interpretation of Scripture.

.-■..-' ■

Biblical Interpretation... 55

Historical and spiritual interpretation of Scripture thus
operate in very different ways, each with its own mode of ope-
ration. Historical interpretation provides us with the outer
meaning, spiritual interpretation directs us towards the inner
meaning of the biblical text. The two approaches should com-
plement one another, but all too often their proper roles have
been misunderstood, and the criteria belonging to the one have
been misguidedly applied to the other. This has given rise r to all
sorts of misconceptions, such as the idea that biblical scholarship
is dangerous or harmful to faith. Much more dangerous, and
spiritually harmful, is the fundamentalist approach to the Bible
which confuses spiritual truth with historical truth, thus creating
a totally unnecessary conflict between religion- and science,

With these rather lengthy preliminaries we can now turn to
the Syrian interpretation of Scripture. The Syriac Fathers are
interested both in 'factual', or 'historical', and in 'spiritual'
interpretation, though not surprisingly they pay greater attention
to the latter. Since modern historical understanding of the
Bible and its background is vastly superior to that of the
Syriac Fathers (thanks to the advances in biblical scholarship
over the last, century), what the Syriac Fathers have to ' say on
the level of historical interpretation is very rarely of more
than .antiquarian interest. What they have to say in the area
of spiritual interpretation, however, has by no means been
superseded, and much of what they say can be just as mean-
ingful today as it was to .their own times. ■ Accordingly, we
shall primarily be looking at examples of their spiritual inter*
pretation. . ,

A number of passages in the writings of St. Ephrem
(died 373) provide us with excellent guidance on how Scripture
should be read. On the one hand he sees the Scriptures
theraesclvcs as possessing an unfathomable depth of ' 'hidden
power' (that is, spiritual meaning; western "Writers would pro-
bably prefer to speak of divine inspiration). On the other
hand, in order for the Christian to be able to draw on these
hidden depths of spiritual meaning, he or she must read the Bible
with 'the eye of faith', that'is,' with an openness to the guidance
of the 'Holy Spirit; 'for this same Spirit will then lead the reader
to discover 'the power which lies hidden' within the words of

•f

56 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

the biblical text. Thus, for the Bible to 'come to life' and to
become spiritually meaningful there is need for openness to, and
co-operation with, the Spirit on the part of the reader (or
hearer) of the Bible, for only then will the reader become aware
of the spiritual truths hidden within scripture. Thus St.
Ephrem says in one of his hymns, "The Scriptures are laid
out like a mirror, and he whose eye is lucid sees within them

the mirror of Truth" (Hymns on Faith 67:8).

. <
St. Ephrem says emphatically on a number of occasions
that it is wrong to read the Bible in a literal way, for this will
lead to all sorts of misconceptions. Thus, for example, in one
of his hymns on Paradise (II :G) he says,

If someone concentrates his attention

solely on the metaphors which arc used of God's majesty,

he then abuses and misrepresents that majesty

by means of those same metaphors

with which God has clothed himself for man's own benefit;

such a person is ungrateful to God's grace

which has bent down its stature to the level of human

childishness:

Even though God has nothing in common with humanity

nevertheless he clothed himself in the likeness oT humanity

in order to bring humanity to the likeness of himself.

Ephrem often speaks of God as "clothing himself in names
(or metaphors)" in the Old Testament, as a prelude to his
'clothing himself in the human body' at the Incarnation. But
we should not abuse God's condescension in making himself
known to humanity in this way by taking these metaphors
literally:

Let us give thanks to God

who clothed himself in the names of the body's various

parts:

Scripture refers to his 'ears',

to teach us that he listens to us;

it speaks of his 'eyes', to show that he sees us.

Tt was just the names of such things that he put on.

Although in his true Being there is no wrath or regret,

yet he put on these names too, because of our weakness.

Biblical Interpretation... 57

We should realize that, if he had not put on the names of

such things.

it would not have been possible for him

to speak with us humans:

he drew close to us by means of what .belongs, to us;

he clothed himself in our language, . so ; that , he might-

clothe us ...

in his mode of life. He asked for our form (Philippians 2:7)

and put this on; then, as a father witli his children,

he spoke with our childish state.

pi r

It is our metaphors that he put on— though he did not

literally do so!

He then took them off— without actually doing so:

when wearing them, he was at the same time stripped of

them;

he puts one on when it is beneficial,

then strips it off to exchange it for another!

The fact that he strips off and puts on all sorts of metaphors

tells us that the metaphor does not apply to his true Being;

because that Being is hidden,

he has depicted it by means of what is visible.

(Hymns on Faith 31:1-3)
A passage of Scripture is capable of only one correct histo-
rical interpretation at a time; such a restriction, however; docs
not apply to spiritual interpretation: in that case, the, more lucid
and luminous the inner eye of faith is, the more spiritual inter-
pretations it will be capable of discovering. 'As Ephrem points
out, it would be very boring if a passage of Scripture had only
one spiritual meaning;

If there only existed a single sense for the words of Scri-
pture, then the first commentator who came along would
discover it, and other hearers would experience neither
the labour of searching, nor the joy of discovery. Rather,
each word of our Lord has its own form, and each form
has its own members, and each member has its own cha-
racter. And each individual person understands according
to his capacity, and he interprets the passage as is granted
to him. (Commentary on the Diatessaron 7:22).

uil

. ■
I

58 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Earlier in the Commentary on the Diatcssaron St. Ephrem Ins
the following excellent advice (in the first paragraph he addresse=
Christ):

Who is capable of comprehending the extent of what
is to be discovered in a single ntterancc of yours? For we
leave behind in it far more than we take away from it,
like thirsty people drinking front a fountain.

The facets of God's word are far more numerous than

the faces of those who learn from it. God depicted his

word with many beauties, so that each of those who learn

from it can examine that aspect of it which lie likes. Anil

God has hidden within his word all sorts of treasures, so
t> ■

that each of us can be enriched by it, from whatever aspect

he meditates on. For God's word is the Tree of Life which

extends to you blessed fruits from every direction: it is like

the Rock which as struck in the Wilderness, which became

a spiritual drink for everyone on all sides: 'They ate the

food of the Spirit and they drank the draft of the Spirit".

Anyone who encounters Scripture should not suppose
that the single one of its. riches that he has found is ihe only-
one to exist; rather, he should realize that he himself is
only capable of discovering that one out of the many
riches which exist in it.

Nor, because Scripture has enriched him, should the
reader impoverish it. Rather, if the reader is incapable of
finding more, let him acknowledge Scripture's magnitude.
Rejoice because you have found satisfaction, and do
not be grieved that there has been something left over by
you. A thirsty person rejoices because he has drunk: he is
not grieved because he proved incapable of drinking the
fountain dry. Let the fountain vanquish your thirst: your
thirst should not try to vanquish the fountain! If your thirst
comes to an end while the fountain has n6t been 'diminished,
then you can drink again whenever you are thirsty:
whereas, if, the fountain had been drained dry once you
had had your fill, your victory over it would have proved

Biblical Interpretation 59

to \k for your own harm. Give thanks for what | you
have taken away, and do not complain about the super-
fluity that is left over. What you have laken off with you
is your portion; what has been left behind can still become
• -i -your inheritance. (Commentary on the Diatessaron it 1H-19)

The type of spiritual interpretation which is employed
most frequently by the Syriac Fathers can best be described as
typological or symbolic interpretation. This kind of interpret
tation can already be found in the New Testament, where, for
example, St. Paul speaks of Christ : as 'the latter Adam' (1 Cor
15:45). Typology is in fact a means of indicating relationships:
relationships between the Old Testament and the New, between
the New Testament and the Church,, between the material world
and the heavenly world, between historical events and persons
in Scripture and their spiritual meaning. Types and symbols
serve as pointers: from the standpoint of subjective human pers-
pective, a type or symbol can he seen as means of revealing some
aspect of objective divine reality (Truth, in Ephrem's termino-
logy); alternately, froxn the standpoint of objective divine
perspective, a type or symbol is a place in which some aspect
of divine reality lies hidden. Although the Greek word for type,
"typos", does sometimes occur in Syriac, the normal term used for
type or symbol is ^raza", which properly means 'mystery', but
which is usually best translated in this context as 'symbol',
though it should be stressed that 'symbol' has a much stronger
meaning than the one current in modern English, where a
symbol is usually sharply distinguished from the thing it symbo-
lizes.; | For the Syriac Fathers the link between symbol and the
reality symbolized is intimate, for in the symbol there resides the
'hidden power' of the reality. • » ■ ' i

.... ........■-.,;. .,,

The verse John 19:34 is a passage which excellently illu-
strates the mechanics, as it were,- of typological exegesis. The
Pcshitta has here.: But one of the soldiers struck him on. his side
with a spear, and immediately there came forth blood and
water. With the help of typology, the piercing of Christ's . side
on the Cross is linked backwards to the Genesis narrative of the
fall of Adam and his expulsion from Paradise, and forwards to
the sacramental life of the Church; in other words, the typolo-

60 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

gical interpretation of this verse points to the true significance
of the crucifixion and its importance as the turning point in the
whole of salvation history. How does it achieve this?

First, the links with the Genesis narrative are provided by
the following contrasted elements:

— the side of Christ the. Second Adam, and the rib, or side, of
the First Adam {Gen 2:21-2), whence Eve was extracted;

— the spear which pierced Christ, and the fiery sword which
kept Adam out of Paradise (Gen 3:24).

The piercing of Christ's side with the spear can thus be seen as
removing the fiery sword which has hitherto kept Adam (huma-
nity) out of Paradise; in other words, the crucifixion opens
np the posssbility for humanity to return to the original state ol
Paradise.

Secondly, links forward to the Church arc provided by:

— the blood, a symbol of the Eucharist;

— the water, a symbol of Baptism.

Moving on from here a further step, the Syriac" Fathers speak of
the Church (as the place where the Sacraments of Baptism and
the Eucharist are found) coming forth, or being born, from the
side of Christ. This in turn provides a contrast to Eve, who was
'born' from the side of the First Adam. The image of birthgiving
then allows the introduction oX another set of relationships: the
birth of Eve from Adam and the birth of the Church from Christ
were both virgin births (as too was the birth of Adam from the
Earth), and this ofcourse introduces the virgin birth of Christ
from Man', herself the Second Eve.

We are thus provided with an extremely intricate web of
typological relationships which help to show how every point in
salvation history is interlinked, and how wc today arc ourselves
participants in this history through the sacraments of Baptism and
the Eucharist. The typological parallelism implied in this network
ofintcrrclationships between Mary and the Church also provides
fruitful and suggestive material for theological meditation.

■

Biblical Interpretation... 6\

Such, in prosaic terms, is the bare skeletal framework up-
on which the typological interpretation of John 19:34 functions.
For the skeleton to come to life, one needs to read some of the
passages where the Syriac Fathers have breathed life into these
bare bones. (See Suggested Reading, at the end of the Course).

It is significant that much of the best spiritual intcrepre-
tution of the Bible among the Syriac Fathers is to be found in
poetry rather than in prose. Thus the poems of Ephrcm, Narsai
and Jacob of Scrugh will appear today as far more creative in
their spiritual interpretation of Scripture than the many late
prose commentaries which survive.

^ &

"■ ■

• 1

■.

.-■ ,■ 'I

The desert will rejoiCCj

and flowers will bloom in the wilderness. -j

The desert will sing and shout for joy;:

it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains i

and as fertile as the fields of Carrael and Sharon*

Everyone will see the Lord's splendour

see his greatness and Power,. ■ .. ■

■-*

.' ■■ ■ . I

■

' • : '

SECTION V

BIBLICAL COMMENTARIES

Commentaries on the Bible can take many forms. The
earlier Syriac commentaries are generally on one particular book
at a time, whereas from the eighth and ninth century onwards it
became the fashion to provide commentaries on the whole Bible.

The earliest surviving Syriac commentaries arc those by
Ephrera (c. 306 — 373), and it is quite likely that they date from the
last ten years of his life, spent at Edcssa. The following are
generally agreed to be by Ephrem himself (though in some
cases it is possible that his disciples published them in then-
present form):

— Commentary on Genesis and most of Exodus; this survives in
Syriac in a unique manuscript. The Commentary follows the
order of the biblical text, but only selected passages are comm-
ented on. The early chapters of Genesis receive much more
attention than the later ones, and Ephrem shows great interest
in the question of human free will. There is very little typolo-
gical interpretation; this contrasts with the typological interpre-
tation given to many passages from Genesis and Exodus in his
hymns. Throughout the commentary many intriguing links with
Jewish exegctical traditions are to be found..

— Commentary on the Diatessaron. This survives complete in
an early translation into Armenian; in recent times about two-
thirds of the Syriac" original have been recovered and published
(19(53; the discovery of some more leaves ofthesamc manuscript
was announced in 1987J. The Commentary follows the sequence
of the Diatessaron (and since the Syriac Diatessaron is lost, the
Commentary is an extremely important witness to both its text
and structure); as in the Genesis and Exodus Commentary,
Ephrem is selective in the passages upon which he chooses to
comment, but the commentary itself is much more theological in
character; further more many passages are meditative in character.

— Commentary on Acts. This comparatively short work survives
only in an Armenian translation.

: i

Biblical Commentaries..'. 63

■ — Commentary on the Pauline Epistles. This too survives only
in an Armenian translation. A curious feature of this commentary.
is Ephrcm's inclusion of a non-canonical letter attributed to Paul,
known as 3 Corinthians,. This letter was evidently quite widely,
read in the carlv Syriac Church, but later fell out of favour (it
is clearly not genuine).

Thanks to Ephrcm's enormous reputation; rriiny Works not
by him came to be attributed to him. This applies to- almost
all the commentaries on the Old Testament attributed to' him"
in the eighteenth-century edition of his works.; There are -also
Armenian translations of Old Testament' commentaries under
his name, but these have not yet been critic illy studied, and
so it is not yet possible to say whether they preserve any
genuine material front the pen of Ephrem.

Following chronological order, probably the next Syriac
commentaries to survive arc certain works by John of Apamea.or
John" the Solitary; ■ Much uncertainty surrounds 1 this figure and
the works : undcr his name, which include a commentary on Ecclc- ■
siastes and one on the Beatitudes. Neither of these has been yet'
published (though an edition of the former is promised as
imminent). These are not commentaries tn the modern sense;
instead, Johh uses select passages in the biblical text as
spring-boards for teaching on the spiritual life.

From the middle of,-the fifth century . onwards Syriac
commentators come under the influence of some of the- main
Greek commentators of the late fourth and early fifth century.
These Greek writers fall, .into two main schools of exegesis,
generally known as the Antiochene and the Alexandrian, : As
far as later Syriac exegetkal tradition was concerned, the
most important representative of the Antiochene school of exe-
gesis was Theodore of Mopsucstia (died 428), while for the
Alexandrian school it was Cyril of Alexandria,., ■' \ . I .

The Antiochene school was particularly interested in histo-
rical interpretation, and from the point of view of modern

biblical scholarship this school was the .more critical in its.
' " , . - ' .- ,: - * * ■■'• 1 '** • 't *» -

approach, even anticipating in some respects the findings -of

modern critics. ; Representatives of this approach often adapted

64 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

to the Bible techniques which had been developed by scholars
or pagan Greek literary texts. Many of Theodore's works were
translated into Syriac in the course of the fifth century, probably
at the famous Persian School in Edessa; it was through this
school, and its successor (from 489) at Nisibis, that the Antio-
chenc exegetical tradition came to exert a pervasive influence
on many Syriac writers. In the Church or the East, where
Theodore was regarded as (he Excgete par excellence, and
where Theodore's christology was considered normative, it is
no surprise to find his exegesis as dominant too. But it is also
the case that Theodore and the Antiochene exegetical tradition
exerted a considerable influence ' on writers of the Syrian
Orthodox tradition like Jacob of Scrugh and even flhiloxcnus;
this happened for the simple reason that these men had once
themselves been students at the Persian School, and though
they reacted against its theological teaching, they nevertheless
remained influenced by iis tradition of biblical interpretation.

Since Theodore of Mopsuestia later came under a cloud
of disapproval in the Greek Church, most of his writings have
been lost in Greek. Many of his works which have managed
to survive are known only' from their translation into Syriac;
amongst these is a long and important Commentary on St.
John's Gospel. Quite extensive portions of his Commentary
on the Psalms is also available in Syriac.

In passing it should be noted that a great many of John
Chrysostom's exegetical homilies on different books of the Bible
were translated into Syriac at an : early date; to judge by the
number of manuscripts which survive, these were widely read.
Other works translated' into Syriac were Athanasius' Exposition
or the Psalms (in a longer and a shorter form) and Gregory of
Nyssa's famous Commentary on the Song of-Songs.

The Alexandrian exegetical tradition was distinguished
bom the Antiochene by its willingness to employ allegory as a
method or biblical interpretation (Theodore in particular was
strongly opposed to the use of allegory). It would be a mistake,
however, to think that all Alexandrine interpretation is allego-
rical: much of it would best be described as typological, and in

Biblical Commentaries 65

this respect it has much in common with its Antiochene coun-
terpart, Alexandrine exegesis has left much less of an impres-
sion on subsequent Syriac tradition, even though Syrian Ortho-
dox writers had available in Syriac translation several of Cyril
of Alexandria's Commentaries (his Commentary on Luke, in the
form of a series of homilicSj survives only in Syriac translation).

The two great Syriac poets, Narsai (died c.500) and Jacob
of Serugh (died 521) both stand in the Antiochene exegetical
tradition, even though Jacob rejected Antiochene christology.
Many of their verse homilies ("memre") are in effect commen-
taries on particular biblical passages;, both poets, for example >
have a series of homilies on Creation.

■ ■ , ■»,■-..-■

Philoxenus of Mabbug (died 523) has left commentaries
<m the Prologue of St. John, and on Mathcw and Luke (these
two survive only in fragmentary form). The commentary on
the Prologue of John is in the form of an extended theological
exposition.

The Church .of the East produced a number of commen-
tators in the sixth century, but little is known' of their work
today. One of the more influential of these commentators
was Ahoh of Qatar (in the Gulf) whose work' is known only
from quotations in much later writers. Among the recent
finds of Syriac (and other) manuncripts at St. Catherine's mona-
stery on Mount Sinai it has been reported that there is ah
otherwise unknown commentary on' the Bible by the great East
Syrian theologian Babai (died G28).

The chief luminary in the field of Syriac biblical exegesis
in tlic seventh century was undoubtedly the Syrian Orthodox
scholar Jacob of Edessa (died 708). Jacob, like many West Syrian
authors of his time, knew Greek well; he also knew a little
■ Hebrew, which was exceptional for a Christian scholar of that
time. He displays his knowledge of Hebrew in a long and learned
note off the Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew divine name writtcii
YHWH but read as Adonay ('my Lord', for which the-Septua--
gint has Kyrios and the Peshitta Marya, both meaning "Lord').
This particular note is attached to his revised translation of the
Homilies of Severus of Antioch, but he has also left a whole

66 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

scries of scholia and letters on particular biblical topics in which
he displays considerable critical acumen. His most important
work of exegesis, however, is his Commentary on the Six Days
of Creation (Hexaemeron). It had become a tradition by his
time for commentaries on the opening of Genesis to be the
vehicle for a great deal ol" scientific knowledge, ranging from
zoology to geography. Jacob's commentary certainly lives Up
to this tradition, and it is a storehouse of learning on all sorts
of topics. Jacob had left the work unfinished at his death,
and so it was left to his equally learned disciple George, bishop
of the Arab tribes (died 724} to complete it.

The names of several East Syrian commentators (such
as Hnana ofAdiabenc and Gabriel of Qatar) are known from
quotations in later writers, but it is not until the late eighth
and the ninth century that we have surviving commentaries.
From that period wc have a number of important works:

— the Hook of Scholia, by Theodore bar Koni (late eighth
century); this is in the form of sets of questions and answers on
select topics in every book of the Pcshitta Bible. (The idea
of a biblical commentary in the form of a series of Questions
and Answers was taken over from Greek writers such as Theo-
dore t). The Book oT Scholia comes down to us in two different
recensions, both of which have been published in the Louvain
Corpus of Oriental Christian Writers (CSCO).

— A Commentary on the whole Bible again in the form of
Questions and Answers, by Isho'barntin, Catholicus of the
Church of the East from 823—828. Only the section on the
Pentateuch has been published so far (by E. C. Clarke,, 1962).

— An anonymous commentary on Genesis and Exodus (to
9:32); this has recently been published by L. van Rompay (1986)
in the CSCO.

— An anonymous commentary on the Old and the New Testa-
ment; only the section on Genesis 1 — 17 has been published so far
(A. Lcvcne, 1951).

i/.

Biblical Commentaries 67

— Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by Isho'dad
of Met v (flourished r. 850). The Commentaries on the Old Testa-
ment have been published by C.van den Eynde in the CSCO
(1950-81), and those on the New Testament by M.U.Gibson
(1911-13).

All these works contain a considerable amount of material
in common, and they all serve as repositories for earlier cxege-
tical tradition.

The chief Syrian Orthodox commentators of not from the
ninth century are John of Dara and, especially, Moshe bar
Kepha, several of whose commentaries on different books of
the Old and New Testaments survive. Only the Commentary
on John by Moshe has been published in full so far.

In the first half of the eleventh century the East Syrian
scholar Abdallah ibn at-Tayyib (died 1043^ wrote a number or
biblical commentaries in Arabic, based largely on the earlier
Syriac commentary tradition. These were widely read by Arabic-
speaking Christians from all Churches, and their influence has
even reached the Ethiopian commentary tradition.

An extensive commentary on the East Syrian lectionary,
called the Gannat Bussame (Garden of Delights), belongs to the
early thirteenth century. This work preserves many excerpts
from earlier commentators whose works arc otherwise lost. (An
edition by G. Reinink in the CSCO is in preparation),

A fitting climax to the West Syrian commentary tradition
is provided by the "Awsar Raze", or Storehouse of Mysteries,
by the Syrian Orthodox polymath Gregory Abu'l Faraj, usually
known as Bar Hebraeus (died 1286). This great work covers the
entire Syriac Bible. Only parts of the "Awsar Raze" have so
far been published (the most accessible, with English translation,
cover Genesis to Samuel (M. Sprcngling and W. O. Graham,
1931), and the Gospels (E. W. Carr, 1925).

$ & *

■\,

SECTION vr

THE USE OF THE SYRIAC BIBLE IN
PREACHING

The Rible has always been tlic miin Starting point For
preaching in all Christian traditions. Here we shall concentrate
on some features which arc characteristic of the Syriac tradition
and which are not found widely elsewhere.

Tlic place of poetry has always been very prominent with-
in Syriac literature as a whole; it is thus not surprising to find
that poetry plays an important role in preaching and in the ex-
position of the Bible in the Syriac Churches. Two areas are parti-
cularly noteworthy: the use of dialogue poems, with biblical
characters, in order to highlight decisive moments within the
biblical narrative; and the use of verse homilies for the purpose
of retelling biblical episodes in a dramatic fashion. Both these
may be seen as excellent vehicles for popular catechetical instruc-
tion which deserve to be revived today.

The dialogue poems belong to a very ancient literary genre
which can be traced back at least to the second millennium B C
In their Syriac form these poems consist of short stanzas where
the two biblical characters speak in alternating verses; there is
almost always a short narrative introduction providing the
audience (the congregation) with the biblical setting, and there-
is sometimes a very brief conclusion (often in. the form of a
doxology). The poems normally take the form of an argument
between the two biblical characters, and in the end one of the
two speakers wins over the other. Thus, for example, in the
dialogue between the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary (the
scene of the Annunciation, Luke 1:26—38), the Virgin is mindful
of Eve's experience, and so questions the angel at first:

The angel addressed the Virgin and said,
Peace be with you. O mother of my Lord,
blessed arc you. child,
and blessed is the Fruit that is within you.

i ■

,,he,Use of the Syriac Bible

And Mary says, Who are you, sir?
and what is this that you utter?
What you are saying is remote from me,
and what it means I have no idea.

■ • .

Angel

Mary

The Father has revealed to me, as I do now to you,
this mystery which is shared between him and his Son,
when he sent me to say
that from you he will shine out over the worlds.

I am afraid, sir, to accent you,

for when Eve my mother accepted the serpent

who spoke as her friend,

she was snatched away from her former glory.

Human experience and the dictates of reason also provide a
basis for further questioning on Mary's part:

Mary This meeting with you and your presence here

are all very fine, if only the natural order of things
did not stir me to have doubts at your arrival
as to how there can be fruit in a virgin's womb.

It is only when the angel finally mentions the Holy Spirit that
Mary finally accepts;

Aneel

Mary

I was sent from the Father to bring you this message,

that his love has compelled him

so that his Sou should reside in your womb,

and over you the Holy Spirit will reside.

In that case, O angel, I will not answer back:
if the Holy Spirit shall come to me,
I am his maidservant, and he has authority;
let it be to me in accordance with your word.

■

These dialogue poems provide a very effective means or
pin-pointing moments of dramatic tension within the biblical
narrative. At each such dramatic point the poet (usually anony-
mous) explores the inner psychological tensions and thoughts; in
the process of doing so, he successfully brings out the important

■

70 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

underlying theological teaching of the passage in question. In
many cases these poems deal with the conflict between the head
and the heart, between human reason and faith: we have seen
a little of this in the dialogue between the Angel and Mary, but
it is also very prominent in the cliali gues between Zechariah and
the Angel, and between Joseph and Mary. Zechariah finds it
impossible to believe the angel's message that his barren and
elderly wife will bear a son: he tells the angel 'It would be
astonishing if I were to believe you in the matter of this tale
which you have told me: a tree already dried up cannot possibly
provide fruit'. In vain docs the angel tell Zechariah of the Old
Testament precedents, such as Sarah giving birth to Isaac in her
old age; Zechariah remains stubbornly sceptical: 'However much
you speak trying to persuade me, your words still do not touch
my intellect'. In Zc;hariah's case human reason proves the
victor over faith— with the result that Zechariah was made
'unable to speak until the angel's words came to pass*.

■ In the case of Joseph, on the other hand, faith eventually
wins the day,, even though external appearances — his fiancees
obvious pregnancy — make it very hard for him to believe in Mary's
improbable explanation, as appears near the . beginning ol the
dialogue:

Joseph I am astounded at what you say:
how can I listen to your words?
Virgins simply do not get pregnant
unless they have intercourse or get married.

■
Pi ■/'.

Mary's patience in the face of his angry disbelief eventually,
towards the end of the long dialogue, wins over Joseph, and he
half concedes that Mary might be telling the truth;

Joseph There are two possibilities, and both disturb me:

if what you say is true, it is most frightening for me,
but if it is untrue,' that is a great grief.
How I wish I could escape from the two.

The Use of the Syriac Bible... 71

To this Mary replies:

Now I shall pour out my words

and address my Son hidden within my womb;

he will reveal to you that I shall have no other

children,

and that I shall not be deprived of your company. (

This is the final verse of the dialogue, but in the final narrative
we hear that verification of the truth of Mary's words is provi-
ded for Joseph: ,

Joseph slept, and the angel arrived,

revc?ling to him how the mystery, had taken place.

Joseph rose up early and knelt in worship before Mary

■ ■

full of Wonder, who had not lied.

The dialogue poem between Mary and Joseph illustrates how
it is only after the intellect, has given way to the improbable
claims of faith that external verification if provided (in Joseph's
, 'in the dream) 'showing that' 1 this faith js indeed grounded

,. - .:■■■'••- ■ ■'■

■a ltv. ' J

case,

ia reality.

• I Some fifty* such dialogue poems survive,- and the ^majority
of these involve biblical characters. Based on the Old Testament
we ''have: -Gain and ■> Abel (Genesis 4), Abraham and- Isaac
(Genesis 22); Joseph a and PotipharV.wifc (Genesis 39), Joseph
and Benjamin,' and Job and his wife. The dialogues with New-
Testament topics are rather more numerous, and include:
Zechariah and the Angel, the Angel and Mary, Joseph and
Mary, Mary and the Magi, John the Baptist and -Christ, John
the Baptist and the Crowd, Christ and the Pharisees, Christ
and the Synagogue, the Sinful Woman and Satan, the i two
thieves on the cross, the Cherub and the thief (Luke 22: 42—3),
Death and Satan (at the descent of Christ into Sheol), and Mary
and the Gardener (the risen Christ).

The oldest dialogue poems arc by none other than St.
Ephrcm (some, on Death and Satan); most of these poems, how-
ever, are anonymous, though in the East Syrian tradition they
have usually been ascribed to Narsai. Probably many of them

\ )\

72 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Hie Use of the Syriac Bible... 73

will have been written in the fifth or sixtli centuries, for this
was a period of great literary creativity. But later writers also
continued to use this form of dialogue poetry to good effect.

Syriac literature is extremely rich in verse homilies, and
many of these are by the great poets Ephrem (died 373), Narsai
(died about 500), and Jacob of Serugh (died 521). A large num-
ber of these homilies provide sermons in verse on particular bi-
blical passages, exploring their spiritual meanings, making cre-
ative use of typology. In these the readers (or hearers) are al-
ways aware of the preacher hiins :lf standing between them and
the biblical text, providing exhortations and explanations. . There
is, however, also a smaller number of verse homilies were the
biblical narrative is retold in dramatic fashion; in these there are
no homiletic asides. This retelling of biblical narratives makes
ample use of speeches by the various biblical characters involved i
some of these 'Speeches can already be found, in very brief form,
in the biblical text Itself. Hut more often the poet has supplied
both the occasion as well as the words; in so doing he is reading
between the lines, as it were, of the biblical text, and drawing out
the dramatic potential to be found there.

Once again, most of the narrative poems of this sort are
anonymous (thougli they are often wrongly attributed to Ephrein).
It seems likely that ihey mostly belong to the fifth and sixth cen-
luries. Among the subjects covered we find the following:
Abraham and Sarah in Egypt (Genesis 12), Abraham, Sarah.
and Isaac (Genesis 22), Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 37 — 48;
the long cycle of poems on this subject by the fifth century pm-i
lialai is often wrongly ascribed to Ephrem), the prophet Elijah
and the widow of Sarepta (1 Kings 17), the prophet Jonah
(this alone is genuinely by Ephrem), Mary and Joseph (making
use of motifs in the Proto-Gospel of James), and the sinful
woman who anointed the feet of Christ (Luke: 7: 36—50 and
parallels).

The two narrative poems retelling the episode of the sacri-
fice of Isaac are of particular interest since they introduce the
figure of Sarah, who is not mentioned a single time in the course
of the biblical text of Genesis £2. In retelling the biblical nana-

tive the poet seeks to explore the silences of the actual text of
the Bible, and to draw out what could be implicit within those
silences. What were Sarah's reactions when Abraham took off
her young boy? Did Abraham tell her off God's fearful com-
mand? Preachers in the early Church were clearly intensely
concerned with such questions, and they suggested a variety of
possible answers. Usually they assume that she only let Isaac
go because she was unaware of what Abraham had been in-
structed by God to do. In one of the two Syriac narrative
poems on the subject, however, wc have a quite different approach:
Sarah is portrayed as having the same profound faith in
God's ultimate love as her husband Abraham has, for she is
both aware of what is to happen and consents to it. Indeed, as
it turns out, her faith proves even greater than .Abraham's, for
she has" to endure the testing of her faith twice: when Abra-
ham and Isaac return home to her, Abraham at first goes in
alone, saying to Isaac '1 will spy out your mother's mind'.
Sarah is thus left to imagine that Isaac has indeed been
sacrificed, and she welcomes her husband back with these words:

Welcome, blessed old man, husband who has loved God;

welcome, happy one, who has sacrificed on the pyre my

only child;

welcome, o slaughterer, who did not spare the body of

my only child.

Did he weep when he was bound, or groan when he died?

was he looking for me?

Abraham assures her that Isaac did not cry when he was
bound, and that 'when the knife was above his throat, he
remembered you there'. To this Sarah replies:

May the soul of my only child be accepted,
for he listened to his mother's words.
/ If only I were an eagle, or had the speed of a dove,
so that I might go and behold that place
where my only child, my beloved, was sacrificed !

Only at the end of this speech docs Isaac walk in, safe and
sound, to fall into his mother's astounded embrace.

; i

74 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

Although the poet handles the biblical narrative with a
good deal of freedom, he docs so in order to impress on hi s
readers and hearers the underlying message inherent in the
biblical text; this he does by means of various dramatic effects
which he introduces into the; retelling of the biblical story.
We should not, ofcourse, suppose that, he is trying to provide
a historical reconstruction of the episode: this would be to
misunderstand his intentions totally and completely. . '

., The narrative verse homily on the prophet Elijah pro-

vides another example of the way in which the poet seeks to
heighten, the dramatic force of the biblical narrative. -1. Kings

17:1 tells how the prophet bound the skies under an oath, not
allowing them to let fall any rain or dew 'except by my word'.
The resulting drought was to be a punishment for the nation's
wicked ways. Later on in the chapter the biblical narrative tells
how th,e same prophet restored life to the dead son of the Widow
at .Sarepta {1 Kings 17:22)., Then, at the end of chapter 18, we
learn of the end of the terrible drought. In the biblical account
no direct connection between the raising of the widow's son and
the end of the drought is made, but the author of the Syriac
verse homily on Elijah does link the two in a very dramatic way
(in so doing, he was in fact following Jewish tradition). When
the heavens complain, to God about Elijah's 'action, God points
out to them that he should respect his prophet's authority, seeing
that. Elijah had specifically stated that the- heaven were bound
until he himself release them. 'Be patient with me for a little
while', God tells the heavens, 'and wait until I go down to visit
hiiii- I: will- go on proposing to him reasons, until he eventually
becomes reconciled with you'. After various attempts to get
Elijah to lift his ban and so end the drought, God • finally sends
him off to a widow of Sarepta who will feed him despite the
famine. She tells, him that all she has left over is a little flout-
in a bowl and a small quantity of oil (I Kings 17:12), but the
prophet assures her: - - . ,

Neither shall the bowl of flour fail
nor shall the horn of oil give out.

The woman runs ofr 'to try out the word of the prophet', and
as 'she plunged her hand into the bowl,, flour, came leaping up

The Use of the Syriac Bible... 75

to meet h' —and the same thing happened with the oil. The
prophet, the widow and her son arc thus assured of food, and
all goes well for a while. But the drought and the famine conti-
nue, since Elijah has not yet lifted his ban. ; Things are getting
so bad that God decides to resort to something more dramatic
in order to get Elijah to relent and show compassion:

He sent an angel to take away

the soul of the widow's son.

He look away his soul, and so incited his mother

to do battle with the upright man:

the woman took hold of him and stood there,

ready 10 argue with him as a murderer; ,:

'Give me back my only child', she cried,

'for he was killed because of you.

I will seize hold of you straightaway 1

and thrown you into the hands '

of Ahab and Jezebel, to meet an evil fate'.

Elijah answered her and said

to the widow who had spoken these things:

'Never has anyone been killed by me,

and here you are calling me a murderer.

Am I God, to be able to revive your son?

Or is his soul in my hands,

seeing that you are requiring him at my hands?'

■■• N ••:.■"•■■..'.''■ ■ ' ■' .'' ; ~ ''' ' '" V 1 '-' ' '

The woman said in reply to Elijah,
'Indeed, by the God whom I serve,

this is assured for me: .,.-...

if the flour heard you and leapt up, „ i, R tio\ *» i
and if the oil heard you and spurted forth,.. ; :j , ;

:,' -

■

then the Lord will listen to you thus ;
and will give you back the soul of the boy.

Then Elijah took the boy
x and brought him to the upper room;
he knelt and began to say_
in sorrow and in suffering,
'O Lord, I beg of you,
as a servant I speak in your presence;

• !' -
• • ill * .•'

, ■

76 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

why, Lord, have you repaid with such loss

this widow who has received mc?

Why did you send me to her,

why did you bring her son forth from her womb?

Lord, I call upon you with feeling,

I beg of you mercy;

listen. Lord, to your servant's prayer,

and return the soul of this boy'.

Our Lord answered and said to Elijah,
'You owe mc one debt:
repay it, and I will listen to you.
In your hands is placed the key to the heavens,
in my hands is the soul of the child'.

The holy man opened his mouth
as his heart rejoiced and exulted;
he released the heavens which he had bound
— and the soul of the child returned.

In order to heighten the dramatic effect of the biblical
narrative the poet has introduced the bold idea of a
bargain struck between God and Elijah. This has the effect
of emphasizing the double underlying message which the poet
sees in the biblical narrative: the need for compassion on the
part of those who are zealous for God's righteousness, and the
example of the widow's faith in God's ability to work miracles
through his prophet.

By retelling the' biblical "narrative in a lively and imagi-
native way, these anonymous Syriac poets have provided a very
effective form of popular preaching. The very fact that they
take some liberties with the biblical, text encourages their readers
and hearers to go back to the biblical text and rc-discovcr it
for themselves.

2< VL 32

SECTION VII

THE USE OF THE SYRIAC BIBLE
IN THE LITURGY

The Syriac Bible features in liturgical worship above all
in the cycle of biblical readings and in the use of the' Psalms.
Here, however, we shall consider another aspect: the way in
•which the phraseology of the Syriac Bible is ingrained: in the
very prayers and hymns of the Syriac Churches. We shall look
at two examples, based on Genesis 1:2 and on Luke 1:35.

The second half of Genesis 1:2 reads in the IN-.shitia
'and the Spirit of God was hovering ("nnahhefa") over the
surface of the water'. The verb "rahhef" is used in Deutero-
nomy 32:11 of a female bird hovering over her chicks, and the
noun "mrahfana" is found several times in the Peshitta as a
parallel to "mrahmana", 'compassionate'. Modern English
translations usually provide two possible alternative translations
for Genesis 1:2. 'the Spirit of God' and 'wind of God' (or,
'strong wind'), since "ruah" in Hebrew (and "ruha" in Syriac)
can mean either 'spirit' or 'wind'. This hesitation on the part
<jf modern translators is in fact nothing new, for the early Church
Fathers were also divided over how to interpret the verse: does
it refer to the Holy Spirit, or to a spirit/wind? The fact that
the Greek has a passive verb following ('was carried') suggested
to some Greek commentators that 'the spirit*, here could not
refer to the Holy Spirit.

The Syriac Fathers share this uncertainty over the inter-
pretation of Genesis 1:2, and many of them, from St. Ephrcm
onwards, prefer not to introduce the -Holy Spirit here in their
exegesis of the passage. This line of interpretation was adopted
in order to avoid certain theological misunderstandings associa-
ted with the verse v and it was followed by several later comm-
entators, and in particular by Theodore of Mopsuestia, from
whom it was taken over by the School of Edessa and by its
successor at Nisibis. Accordingly, the vast majority of later
Syriac commentaries, especially those in the East Syrian tradition,

78 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition f

take the view thai the 'spirit of God' in the verse is not the
Holy Spirit.

?>J t ' • '■. :;

Nevertheless, in spite of this attitude on the part of some
theologians, it seems that a different understanding was deeply
ingrained in the liturgical tradition, for there wc can find many
passage's where Genesis 1:2 is understood as referring to the Holy
Spirit. This can be seen above all in prayers and hymns conn-
ected with baptism; here we often find a parallelism drawn bet-
ween the creative activity of the Holy Spirit over the primordial
waters, on the one hand, and the same creative activity of the
Spirit over the baptismal waters, where the baptized become a
'new creation'. Thus in one of the Epiphany Hymns attributed
to Si. Ephrcm we have:

• .

At creation the Spirit hovered over the waters;

they conceived and gave birth to reptiles, fish and birds.

The Holy Spirit has hovered over the baptismal water,
• and has given birth to eagles in symbol, that is, to the vir-
1 gins and leaders,

and to fishes in symbol, that is, to the chaste and the

intercessors,

and to reptiles in symbol, that is, to the cunning who have
' ■ become as
'•' : simple as doves (Matthew I0:1G). (Hymns on Epiphany 8:15)

The same idea is also found in the Maronite baptismal rite, in
the course of the long prayer at the sanctification of the water:

As the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters at the establish-
ment of creation, so may your Holy Spirit, O Lord, hover
over this baptismal water which is a spiritual womb, and
may he rest upon it and sanctify it and make it fruitful
with the heavenly Adam, in place of the earthly Adam.

The parallelism between the waters at creation and the
baptismal water is richly suggestive, but it is rarely brought out
in an explicit way— perhaps as a result of the different exegesis
of Genesis 1:2 which dominated the Schools of Edessa Nisibis.
But very often we do find the parallelism vcstigially present,

The U of theSyr. Bibte in Liturgy 79.

thanks to the use of the verb "rahhef" in connection with the
activity of the Spirit at baptism. Thus St. Ephrem, who ■ specifi-
cally does not take the 'spirit of God' to refer to the Holy Spirit,
nevertheless docs use the verb "rahhef", 'hover', with reference
to baptism when we says "The Holy Spirit hovers over the
streams' (that is, of the baptismal waters) [Hymns on Virginity
7:8].. Likewise, in some texts'of the Syrian Orthodox 'baptismal
service the deacon says at the sanctification of -the baptismal
water, 'How fearful is this hour when .-the-' living I and Holy
Spirit circles down from the uppermost heights' and "hovers"
and dwells on the water, sanctifying it, just,. as the Jordan's
streams 'were sanqtified. [at the baptism of , Christ]'. \\ x tliM .vjoj 1

, i.\5i ■ ••■'•.' . ■ ■ ' ."''■"' " •>'' " !

Likewise, outside the context of baptism and the baptismal

liturgy, wc not infrequently find the Spirit described as 'hovering*,

where the verb 'hover' is derived from the Peshitta, text of

Genesis 1:2. Thus in several West Syrian 'Anaphoras ''hover'

is used as one of the verbs describing the activity of the. Holy.

Spirit at the Epiclesis. One such case is the Syriac Anaphora

ascribed to St. John Ghrysostom (quite different from- thei Greek

Anaphora under his name): ,, .,,

May your Spirit and your Power overshadow this, holy
altar and sanctify its offerings; and , may He hover and.
rest and reside over the bread, and may it become one
Body....

The wording of. this particular 1 epiclesis conveniently in-
troduces us to the other biblical passage under consideration in
this section, for the' verb 'overshadow' is derived from Luke
h85j/ThjB Holy Spirit- shall - come and the power of the Most
High shall overshadow ("naggen") you'. • ■'

I*. ■• - i.i.j ,.--': U .■■ : ; r>" r

The Syriac verb used to translate the Greek, word here .fori
'overshadow'"is a very interesting one, for it has a background
in Jewish Aramaic. The verb "aggen" occurs a number of
times in the Jewish Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible,
almost always in the context of God's salvific activity. The
Syriac translators of the- New Testament evidently inherited the
term from Jewish Aramaic and used it in ii number /of- different'
passages, including Luke 1:35. Among the other passages: where

■ ■ ]

■

The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

the translators, employed this verb "aggea" are John 1:14 (where
the Greek has 'The Word dwelt, or tabernacled, among us')
and Acts 10:44 and 11:15 (where the G.cek his -'the Spirit feci
upon...').

'"•
As was, the case with Genesis 1:2, so too with Luke 1:35
there has been a difference of opinion about its precise interpre-
tation. Is 'the Power of the Most High* the same as 'the Holy
Spirit^ earlier in the verse, or is the Power to be identified as
the divine Word? On the whole one can say that East Syrian
exegctical tradition identified the Power as a synonym for the"
Holy Spirit, while West Syrian tradition normally understood
'the Power of the Most High' to refer to the pre-existcnt Word;
several exceptions can, however, be found to this pattern of in-
terpretation in both traditions. In the case of the West Syrian
tradition it is clear that the Peshitta's use of the same verb,
"aggen" at John 1:14 has been influential, for there the Word
is subject of the verb.

in view of this difference over the interpretation of Luke
1:35, one would expect to find reminiscences of Luke 1:35, where
the Holy Spirit is understood to be the subject of the verb
'overshadow',, only in East Syrian liturgical texts, and not in
West Syrian ones. This, however, is not the case, and in fact
we find many such reminiscences in both liturgical traditions.

It is particularly significant when reminiscences of Luke
1:35 occur in) the Epklesis of the Eucharistic liturgy. In the
East Syrian liturgical tradition this occurs in the East Syrian
Anaphora of Theodore, where the invocation opens with the
words ^May the grace of the Holy Spirit come upon us and
upon this offering and reside in and overshadow this bread...*
In West Syrian Anaphoras the use of 'overshadow' in the epi-
clesis is especially common, and the example quoted above,
from the Anaphora of St. John ChrysostonV is only one out of
many Anaphoras where 'overshadow' is used at this point.
■ ■' ' >•.-,-, ■■..,;,, <

The use of the WO rd 'overshadow' in the epklesis deli-
berately draws attention to the important parallelism - between
the activity of the Spirit over Mary and the activity of the Spirit

•

The use of the Syr. Bible in Liturgy 61

over the eucharistic Offerings. In his Commentary on the Li-
turgy the Syrian Orthodox writer Moshe bar Kepha says

Just as the Holy Spirit descended to the womb or Mary
(as the angel said, 'for the Holy Spirit- shall come...'),
and. made the body of God the Word from the flesh of
the Virgin , so too the Spirit descends on the bread
and wine on the altar and makes them into the Body
and the Blood of God the Word which originated from

the Virgin: "'■ ' ■ '■■ ] ■"' " '

b ... :. ... ,:

The implications of this implicit parallelism between the
Annunciation and the Eucharist, are important At, the Annun-
ciation Mary's willing co-operation with .the, Spirit, resulted in
the birth from her of God the Word; at, the- Eucharist, there
ate two; different aspects of the activity of the' Spirit,:;. .fj^Jy,
through the Church's faithful co-operation with the ^pIy ; ;Spiril
at the Epiclesis, the eucharistic Offerings arc transforni&d ; and
become the Body and Blood of Christ; secondly, if those who
receive- Communion imitate Mary.'s .willing co-operation with
the Holy Spirit/ they, too will give birth spiritually to 'God the
Word. Thus the eighth-century,. East' Syrian mystic, Joseph
the Visionary, writes hi a .prayer to be ^recited before. Comm-
union, "May I receive you, Lord; not into r the stomach which
belongs to the body's limbs, but into the womb of my mind,
so that you may be conceived there, as in the womb of the
Virgin'.

Syriac liturgical texts. are full of such biblical reniini T
scences, and the theological richness of these texts will only
become truly apparent when these reminiscences and allusions,
are recognized. Sometimes these allusions refer to wording
which is found uniquely in the Peshitta (this: applies to some
extent, , at least, to the two examples quoted above; it also
applies notably to the form of the Sanctus. in the Syriac .liturgies,
for the wording 'heaven and earth are fuIL of his "praises" '
Vrather than 'his glory') is taken from- the, Peshitta next of
Hsaiah 6:3). Because Syriac liturgical prayers Wd rhymns are so
soaked in the phraseology of the Syriac Bible, we can accordingly
sec the importance of having translations based on the Peshitta
for the purposes of liturgical readings from the Bible.

:• . .'I ," " '

■

SECTION VIII

THE PESHITTA AS THE BASIS FOR
SYHIAC SPIRITUALITY

The Peshitta is the source for a great many terms which
were to become important in the history of Syriac spirituality.
Before looking at a few of these in more detail, we can notice
the following in passing:

— the term "rushma", or 'mark', is rugularly used in early
Syriac literature Tor the baptismal anointing on the forehead (or.
by extension, it may also refer to the whole baptismal rite). The
source for the term is the Peshitta text of Ezekiel 9:4. where the
prophet Ezekiel has a vision of the slaughter of the' guilty in
Jerusalem; in this vision 'a man clothed in linen', evidently.
an angelic being, is told by God to pass through the city of
Jerusalem and 'put a mirk "rushma" on the foreheads of
those who groan in torment over all the abominations and evil
doings that are being performed in the city'. In Hebrew the
word for 'mark' here is "law", the letter T, whose shape in
the old Hebrew script was that of a cross. At the prc-bapti-
smal anointing the priest anoints a cross on the forehead of the
person being baptized with oil, which symbolizes {among many
other things) protection against the forces of evil.

— in East Syrian writers like St. Isaac of Nineveh (7th century)
concept of 'pure prayer' becomes a very important one. The
only biblical version where the actual term 'pure prayer' occurs
is the Peshitta, at I Chronicles 16:42: 'These holy- men (who
were ministering before the Ark of the Covenant) gave praise,
not with musical instruments of praise, .. but with a joyful mouth
and with pure and perfect prayer'.

— one of the central concepts of Syriac spirituality is the ideal of
•"shafyutha"; the Syriac term has no single English equivalent,
but covers a whole variety of different ideas, such as 'luciditv,
luminosity, purity, .clarity, serenity'. In, the Syriac Bible
there are a number of .important passages where the .adjective
"shafya", 'clear, luminous', etc., occurs; in some of these the

;

The D eshitta as the Basis for ,.

term is used to describe a path or way, such as Isaiah 26:7,
'Straight and clear ("shafya") is the way of the righteous'. ' But
the most important passage is Luke 8:15, where the term is
associated with the heart: 'The seed in' the good ground refers
to those who hear the Word with a luminous' '("shafya") and
good heart' (the Greek has 'an' excellent and good heart')-
Taking this as their starting point, later Syriac writers ' frcr
qucntly refer, to the ideal of "shafyut lebba", 'luminosity of heart'-

— another important and distinctive term in the history of Sy-
riac spirituality is "msarrquta" 'self-emptying'; this is used
both in the sense of the stripping away, of external possessions,
and in an interior sense, 'the self-emptying of heart', the stripp-
ing away of self-will in order to follow the will of Christ.' Such
'self-emptying* is in fact an imitation of Christ's own' self-empty-
ing, based on St. Paul's letter to the Philippians 2:7, 'Christ empt-
ied ("sarrcq") himself, taking the form of a servant.

— ■ Syriac tradition makes great use of the imagery of clothing
in expressing, many different theological ideas. In particular, the
theme of the 'robe, or garment, of glory/praise' is commonly
used to describe the whole course of salvation history: in Paradise
Adam and Eve were clothed in the garment of glory before their
disobedience to God's command. At the Fall humanity lost
this garment, and the whole purpose of the Incarnation was to
make it possible for humanity to put on, once again, this gar-
ment of glory; to bring this about, God the Word 'put on the
body' at the incarnation, and then, at his Baptism in the river
Jordan, he places the garment of glory in the Jordan water,
ready for the individual christian to put on at his or her bap-
tism in the baptismal water. In this world the baptized possess
this garment of glory in potential, but it only becomes a reality
in the world to come — provided they have' kept the garment un-
sullied by sin in the present life. The image of the robe or gar-
ment of glory thus links together all the main points in salvation
history, and thus vividly brings home the close relationship be-
tween the individual christian today and these past events in
salvation history. Earliest Syriac Christianity evidently took the I
idea of Adam and Eve being clothed in paradise with the robe!
of glory from an early Jewish interpretation of Genesis 3:2J (the
phrase docs nor occur in' the Peshitta text of that passage): al-

■ k

84 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

though the Hebrew, Greek and Syriac texts there spctk of 'gar-
ments of skin' being provided for Adam and Eve, the Jewish
Aramaic translation, known as the Targum, interprets them as
'garments of honour/glory'; similarly, a famous Rabbi, Rabbi
Mcir, is said to have had a Hebrew text which read 'garments
of light "('or)", instead of'garments of skin "('or)" '. Accord-
ing to this interpretation these garments of glory or light be-
longed to Adam and Eve "before" the Fall, whereas, accord-
ing to the normal translation, 'garments of skin', they were
given lo them "after" the Fall (the Hebrew text could be in-
terpreted either way, as far as the point in time is concerned).
Although the Syriac translators of the Peshitta did not introduce
this idea at Genesis 3:21. they do allude to it in some other
passages; thus at Psalm 8:6 the Peshitta has 'you (God J created
man a little less than the angels; in honour and glory did
you "clothe" him' (the Hebrew and the Greek both have
'crown him', not 'clothe him')- Likewise at Psalm 132:16 the
Peshitta (but not the Hebrew and Greek) speaks of 'glory' an
the clothing of the just. In the Peshitta New Testament the
translators have introduced the idea of the Incarnation as 'putt-
ing on the body' at two places in the Letter to the Hebrews:
at Hebrews 5:7 Ghrist is described as 'being clothed in flesh'
(the Greek has 'in the days of his flesh'); and at Hebrews 10:")
(where Psalm 40 is quoted as a prophecy of Christ} the Syriac
has 'You clothed me in a body', whereas the Greek has 'You
prepared a body for me'.

— -we have already seen the importance of the term "aggen"
(based especially on Luke 1:35 and John 1:14) in the Syriac
liturgical tradition. In some later Syriac writers (notably St.
Isaac of Nineveh) the term also became an important one for
describing the transforming action of the Holy Spirit on the in-
ferior, 'altdr of the heart'.

All these terms are based on some distinctive feature to
be found only in the Syriac Bible. There are, of course, many-
other biblical terms which are likewise characteristic of Syrinc
spirituality, but these are also to be found in the Greek arid
Hebrew, as well as in the Syriac Bible.

lurther information on this subject can be found in tile
Course on Syriac Spirituality. O O

APPENDIX: SOME SAMPLE TRANSLATIONS FROM
THE SYRIAC BIBLE

I. The following passage, John G: I — 12, illustrates the Relation-
ship between the two Old Syriac manuscripts. S [SinaiticusJ and
C [Curctonian]., and the Peshitta [P]. For much of the time they
are nearly identical, but towards the end, especially, there are
places where they differ. The translation is deliberately very
litcral; (..) denotes words supplied for the sake of English idiom;
[..] denotes passages where S is illegible.

John 6:1 SCP After these things our Lord (Jesus CP) went to
the far side of the lake (sea P) of Galilee of Tiberias, 2 and
there went after him a great crowed (many crowds P), for they
were seeing the signs which he was performing upon (on P) the
sick. 3 And our Lord (Jesus CP) went up to the mountain, and
there he was sitting with his disciples.

4 S And there was close at hand the Feast of Unleavened

Bread of the Jews.
4 C And there was close at hand Pesakh, the Fer.st ofthe Jews-

4 P Now there was close at hand the Feast of Pascha of the

Jews;

5 SCP And our Lord (Jesus CP) lifted up his eyes and saw a
great crowd (C many crowds) that had come to him. And

(S omits) he said to Philip, From where shall we buy bread for
these people to eat (C so that these people may cat; P for these
to cat)? 6 Now he as if testing him asked him (P Now this he
said, testing him); for he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip said to him, Two hundred denarii of bread is not suffici-
ent Tor them, though they cat very little (P though each one take
very little),
o One of his disciples said to him, whose name was Andrew

(CP Andrew was his name), the brother of Simon Kcpha:.
9 S On a boy there is here five loaves of barley and two fishes,
9 C There is a boy here who has on him five loaves oT barley

and two fishes, : ■

9 P There is here a boy who has on him five loaves of barley

and two fishes,
S but for all these what will they do:'
CP but what will these do for all these?

66 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

10 S He said to them, Make the people recline. Now there was

much
10 G Jesus said, Go, make the people recline by groups. Now

there was much

10 P Jesus said to them, Get all these to recline. Now there

was much

S grass in the place. He said to them, Go, ni:ike the people

recline on the
C grass in that place. And the people reclined, in number

Hve thousand.

P grass in the place. And the men reclined, in number five
thousand.

11 S And when they had mule them recline, then Jesus look

those five

1 ^* And Jesus look those

1 And Jesus look the

5 (pieces of) bread and the Iwo fishes, and he raised his

[eye;] to heaven
G (pieces of} bread,
1' bread,

S and blessed and divided for his disciples [ ]
C and blessed and gave to those who were reclining. And

likewise also
P and blessed and divided to those who were .reclining.
And likewise also

8 . [ " - ]

G With the fish, as much as they wanted.

P from the fish, as much as they wanted.

12 SGP And when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples,

Gather the fragments so, that nothing (P lest anything;
C + at all) perish.

13 S And they gathered tiie fragments which were leftover from

them
13 G And they gathered
13 P And they gathered

S and they filled twelve baskets with what was left over from

those five
G and they filled iwclve b.iskets of fragments from the five
P and they filled twelve baskets of fragments which were left
over

Appendix: Some Sample Translations

S loaves of barley and those two fishes. Now the men who
were eating of this bread were five thousand.

G (pieces) of barley bread, what was left over by those who
ate.

P by those who ate from the five (pieces of) bread.

2. 1 Peter 3:9-21.

The Pcslutta is quite often offers an interpretative transla-
tion in the Letters of Paul, James and Peter. If one compares
the following translation from the Pcshitta with one of the
standard English translations from the Greek, one will discover
a number of small differences.

"T Peter 3:9" For the reason why you have been called is in
order that you may inherit the blessing. 10 Therefore, who-
ever wishes for life (or: salvation) and desires to see good times,
he should guard his tongue from evil, and let his lips not utter
any deceit. 11 Let him crossover from evil, and do what is
good: let him seek for peace, and run after it,. 12 For the eyes
of the Lord are upon the righteous: his cars are (there) to hear
them. But the Lord's face is (also) upon the wicked. 13 Who
will do evil to you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 And
if you should suffer for the sake of justice, blessed are you; and
have no fear for those who try to frighten you, and do not be
upset. 15 Instead, cry 'holy' to the Lord Christ in your hearts,
and be pi eparcd to make a defence to all who require of you
some word concerning the hope of your faith, 16 (doing so) in
humility and in fear, having a good conscience, so that those
who speak against you, as iT against wicked people, may be
ashamed as people who abuse your beautiful way or life in Christ.
17 For it is beneficial for you that, while perfoming good works,
you should endure evil, if this is the will of God, rather than
(that this should happen) when you perform evil. 10. For Christ
too once died for our sins: a just person on behalf of sinners, in
order to bring you close to God. He both died in the body and
came to life in spirit. 19 And he preached to the souls which
were held in Shcol, 20 the ones which of old had not been obedi-
ent in the clays of Noah, when God's patience gave orders that

88 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

there should be the Ark, in the hope of their repentance— but
only eight souls entered it and were saved in the water. 21 You
loo in that same manner (literally, type) arc alive (or: saved) in
baptism— not washing your body of dirt, but acknowledging God
with a pure conscience, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ who
was raised up to heaven, where he is at the right hand of God;
and the angels, authorities and powers have been subjected to
him.

The expansion in verse 20 is of particular interest, for the
translator is clearly aware of the Jewish tradition (taken up by
Aphrahat and Ephrcm) that God provided a long time for the
building of the Ark in order that everyone should have a chance
to repent.

FOR FURTHER READING

For the Pcshitta Old Testament there is a good encyclo-
paedia article by the Estonian Syriac scholar A. Voobus, in the
Supplementary volume lo the Interpreter's Dictionary of the
Bible (1976), 848—54. A more up to date one is to be published
before long in the Anchor Dictionary of the Bible. In French
there is a more detailed article by C van Puyvelde in the Dict-
ionnaire dc la Uible, Supplement VI (I960), under the heading
'Orientales, versions'. All these articles also cover the Syriac
New Testament as well.

For the various Syriac versions of the New Testament,
there is a good chapter in B. M. Metzgcr, Early .Versions of the
New Testament (1977).

A more detailed Select Bibliography for the Syriac Bible
is available at SEERI.

For translations of some of the Dialogue poems mentioned
hi Section 6, see S, Brock, Sogiatha: Syriac Dialogue Hymns
(The Syrian Churches Series XI, 1987; ed. Jacob. .Vcllian).

For passages illustrating the interpretation of John 19:34
( Section 5) sec S Brock, Studies in Syriac Spirituality (Syrian
Churches Series 13, 1988; cd Jacob Vellian), chapter 7.

O O O

SYRIAC BIBLE
Select Bibliography

■■>••( .

EDITIONS

(1) Entire Bible (Peshitta)

G. Sionita (Paris Polyglot) (1645) .., « ,(.;

B. Walton (London Polyglot) (1657)

S. Lee (1823) > UBS (1979 + apocrypha)

Urmia edn (1852) > Joseph de Kelayta, Trin. Bible

Soc. 1913 H/.TiJ i.

Mosul cdn (1887/92; rp Beirut 1951 [see Vostc, "SeT"

121 (1946)59 . .

i • ■

■ ' i

(2) Old Testament
(a) "PESHITTA"
Leiden Pcshitta Project:
"Sample edition" [Cant. Tob. IV Ezra J (1966)

"V.T. Syriace" . . '

1.1 Gen.— Ex. (1977), III. 1 Isaiah (1987)

, II.2 Jud.-Sam. (1978) III.3 Ezekiel (1985)

II.3 Psalms (1980) III.4 XTI Proph. Dan

llA Kings (1976) IV.3 ApocBar, IVE(1973)
II.5 Prov.Wis.Q_oh.Cant.(I979) IV. 6 Odes; Apocr.

II. I a Job (1982) Pss Sol; Tob; 1 (3) Ezra

Othencritical editions:.

1 1

■ !'!

Pentateuch (W. Barnes, 1914)
Psalms (W. Barnes, 1904). . .
Lamentations (B. Albrektson, 1963)
Wisdom of Solomon (J. A. Emerton, 1959)
Apocrypha (P. de Lagarde, 1861)

(b) "SYRO-HEXAPLA"

A. Ceriani, "Codex syro-hexaplaris"... (1874)
P. de Lagarde, "Bibliothccae Syriacae"...(1892)
W. Baars, "New Syro-hexaplaric Texts (1968)

' H

■

90 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

— for new ms with Syro-licx. Pentateuch^ see A. Vnnbus.
"The Pentateuch of the Syro-hcxapla (1975).

see W. Baars, in "VT" 18 (1968) 540-54.

(d> CHRISTIAN PALESTINIAN 'ARAMAIC

M. H. Goshen— Gottstein, "The Bible in the Syro-Pales-
tinian Version," I (1973).

(3) New Testament

(a) DIATESSARON (Excerpted text from Ephrem's
Commentary)

I. Ortiz de Urbina, "Vetus Evangclium Syrorum; Dia-
tcssaron Tatiani" (1967) cp R. Murray,- -"-Heythrop
Uournal 10 ('69)
J. Molitor, Latin tr. "OC" 1969—71.

(b) OLD SYRIAC

F. C. Burkitt (1904) — based on C
A. Lewis (1910) — based on S.
I. Ortiz de Urbirra (see above, (a) )
J. Kcrcheusteiner, Bcob. zurn altsyr. Aktatext,
' 45(64) •• H '

"id", "Der altsyr. Paulustext" (CSCO 315, 1970)

whole NT: BFBS 1920 and reprints, often with Psalim)
The Way International, 1983 ; ■•• ,. . ,

t t i ■ . •; ' yt . ■■ -i

(d) PHILOXENIAN . ,.. ..

Catholic 'Epistles ('Pococke- Epp.'): 'J. Gwynn, ''Rem-
nants of Later Syriac Versions" (1909) ■
Apocalypse ('Crawford Apoc.'): J. Gwynn, (1897).

J. White (1778T., 2 vols;' in' title wrongly. called 'Philox-

iana'): ■ Apocalypse:- Voobus (1978): Catholic Epp. Aland-

1 i

'BibI"

' ; Bibliography 9'i

(f) CHRISTIAN PALESTINIAN ARAMAIC

A. Lewis and M. Gibson, "The Pal. Syriac Lcctiouary
of the Gospels" (1899) • ■ - ■[.

(for other texts see list — now incomplete — m F. Schulte
"Lexicon Syropalestinum" (1903); cp also C. Perrot,
Un fragment chr.-pal. decouvcrt a Khirbet Mird [Acts
10], "RB" 70 (1963) 506-55).

(4) Translations

G. M. Lamsa (Philadelphia 1957; London 1961)

J. Murdock (NT; Boston/London 1851)

A. Oliver (Pss; Boston 1861)

W. Norton (NT Epp.; London 1890)

B. STUDIES .,

(1) "General Surveys", OT & NT .- .-.

J. H. Hospcrs, The present day state of research on the

Peshitt a in "Studies ... dedicated to, H. W, Obbink"

(Utrecht, 1964).

•; :■':■:,..(.• v
C. van Puyveldc, in "Diet, de la Bible, Supplement"

. VI (1960), 8

A. Voobus, in "Interpreter's Dictionary d the Bible,
Suppl. Vol." (1976) 848-54

, A. Voobus, in"Ncw Catholic Encyclopedia" 2 (1967)
433-6 . •; (0" . ; i

B. Aland & S. Brock, in "Theologische RcaJenzyklopedic
6(1980) 181—96 ' ■; ,,■.:;,'" '..;._,, n

(2) Old Testament

W. Barnes, On the influence of the LXX on the Pe.
, . . "JTS"2 (1901) . ...;•■■;

V J. Bloch, The influence of the Greek Bible on the Pe.
"AJSL" 36 (1919/20)

"id", The authorship of the Pe. "AJSL" 35 (1918/9)
"id", Printed editions of the Pe OT, "AJSL" 37 (1920/1)
S. P. Brock, Jewish traditions in Syriac sources, "JJS"
30 (1979) W-l]

92 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

P. B. Dirksen and M.J. Mulder (edd.), "The Peshitta" :

"its early text and history" (Leiden 1988).

J. A. Emerton, Unclean birds and the origin of the Pe,

"JSS" 7

M. Goshen— Gottstein, Prolegomena to a critical

edition of the Pc, "Scr. Hicrosol". 8 (19GI)

"id", review of Voobus, "Pcsch. und Targ"., in "JSS"

G (1961)

L. Hacfeli, "Die Peschitta des AT" (Altt. Abb. 11:1,

1927)

S. Isenbcrg, On the Jewish Palestinian origins ol" the

Pe to the Pentateuch, "JBL" 90 (1971)

M. D. Roster, "The Peshitta of Exodus" (1977), Part
I. G and VI.

E. Lcvinc, The Syriac version of Gen 4, "VT" 2G
(1976) 70-8.

Y. Maori, "The Peshitta version of the Pent. (1975)
J. Perlcs, "Melctemata Peschitoniana (1859)

. J. Pinkerton, Origin and early history of the Syriac
Pent. "JTS" 15 (1914).

J. P. M. van der Ploeg, The Pc of the OT. "OCA*' 18G

(1970)

A. Voobus, "Pcsch. und Targumirn des Pcntatcuchs"

(1958) [Ex 15 andDt32]

P. Wernberg- Mller, (Pe. Pent.' -and the Targums),
"Studia Theologica" 15 (1961)

"nid", Prolegomena to a reexamination of the Pal. Tg.
fragment published by P Kahle and their relationship to
the Peshitta, "JSS" 7 (1962)

"id", Some scribal and linguistic features of the Genesis
par. of the oldest Pc ms (B M Add 14425), "JSS" 13
(1968)

(3) New Testament ,,* / .•/- .:/.

M. Black. The Syriac Vcrsional evidence* in ed. K.
Aland, "Die altcn Uebcrsctzungcn des NT,. (1972)
F. C. Burkitt, "Early Eastern Christianity" : ,ch. II

* B. M. Metzger, "The Early Versions of the NT"
(1977).

A. Voobus, "Studies in the history of the Gospel text

in" Syriac (1951).

id. , "Early versions of the NT" (1954).

* id. 'Syriac Versions' in 'IDE,' Supplem. Vol. (1976)

S.P. 'BROCK, The resolution of the Philoxeman/Harklean
problem', in "Essays in honour of 6. M. Metzger (198} )

, .- ■ , ■! ■ II •. . ■ '■.•''

C. TOOLS

mss. "List of OT Peshitta Manuscripts" (Leiden 1961)
J. T. Clcmons, "An index of Syriac mss containing the
Epp. and Apocalypse;, (Studies and Documents 33, 19G8)

early editions: E. Nestle, "Syriac Grammar with biblio-
graphy, (pp. 17-30 of 'Litteratura Syriaca').

lexicon/concordance: C. Schaaf, "Lexicon syriacum con-
cordance". (Leiden 1709) [NT only]

L..Techen, Syr.-hcbr. Glossar zu den Psalmen nach der
pe "ZAW" 17 (1897)

R-Smend, "Griech.-Syr.-Hcbr. Index zur Weisheit
des" Jesus Sirach (1907)

W. Jennings, "Lexicon to the Syriac NT" (Pe) (1926)

W. Strthmaun, Rorkordanz des syr. Koheletbuches

(1973) (Peand Syh)

N. Sproenger, "Ronkordanz zum syrischem Psalter"

(1976)

•

94 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition

M. M. Winter, "A Concordance to the Peshitta version
of Ben Sira" (1976)

W. Strothmann etalii, "Konkordanz zursyrischen Bibel".
"Die Propheten" (1984); "Der Pentateuch" (1986).

Anon. "The Concordance to the Peshitta Version of the
Aramaic NT" (1985).

bibliography: C. Moss, "Catalogue of Syriac printed
books and related literature in thcBM" (1962) [up to
1959]

S. P. Brock, Syriac Studies (1960— 1970), "Parole de
1' Orient", 4 (1973) 405-10; (1971-80) in "Parole de
V Orient" 10 (1981/2), 306-14

id, C. T. Fritsch & S. Jellicoe, "A Classified Biblio-
graphy of the Scptuagint" (1973), 189— 94. [OT books
brant] from Greek: ie Apocrypha, Syh, Jac. Ed.andCPA]

•

QUESTIONS

(The answers should be brief and to the point. They should
roach The Director, S. C. C. latest by 31st of March, 1989.]

1 "Virtually all early biblical translations arc basically tcxt-
oriented, rather than readcr-oricrtcd". Explain.

2 What arc the consequences of the distinction between scrip-
tural authenticity and literary authenticity, which have affec-
ted the translations of the Bible?

3 Write short notes on:

I. Peshitta 2. Diatcssaron 3. Early Syriac Commentaries
on the Bible 4. Biblical Interpretation in the Syriac Tradi-
tion.

4 Briefly describe some of the most important features charac-
ttrisiic of the Syriac tradition in the use of the Syriac Bible
for preaching.

5 Show how the phraseology of the Syriac Bibl^ is ingrained in
the prayers and hymns of the Syriac Liturgies.

6 Bring out the relation between Syriac Spirituality and
Peshitta.

o o o